COMPASS SURVEYING

INTRODUCTION

In Compass survey chain or tape is used for linear measurements and compass is used for fixing direction. When large area are involved, compass surveying is used.
1) 2)

In compass freely suspended magnetic needle directs to north- south and the bearing of line is obtained by line of sight. There are mainly two methods of land measurement. Triangulation survey Traverse survey

Traversing is that type of survey in which a number of connecting survey lines form the frame work and the directions and lengths of the survey lines are measured with the help of an angle measuring instrument and a tape respectively. A traverse may be either Open or St. D
Closed as shown below.
St. C St. B St. A Closed traverse St. A St. C St. B St. D

St. E

St. E

Open traverse

 An

Open traverse begins at a point of known position and ends at a station whose relative position is unknown. This type of traverse is frequently used for preliminary surveys for highways.
St. C
6015

St. D

St. E

St. A

St. B

Open traverse

 A closed traverse begins and ends at the same

point whose position is known. An example of this type of traverse is a perimeter survey of a lake or pond. St. D
St. C St. E St. A

St. B

Closed traverse

COMPASS

A compass is a small instrument which mainly consists a magnetic needle, a graduated circle and a line of sight. The principle of magnetic compass is, If a long, narrow strip of steel or iron is magnetized, and is suitably suspended or pivoted about a point near its centre, it will oscillate freely about the vertical axis and will tend to establish itself in the magnetic meridian Prismatic compass Surveyors compass

There are mainly three types of magnetic compass,

1) 2)

The magnetic compass never gives a angle between two survey lines directly, it gives only the angle of survey lines with reference to magnetic meridian at particular station.

So, to determine the angle between two survey lines, person has to do manually calculation on recorded bearings.

THE PRISMATIC COMPASS

The prismatic compass is the most convenient and portable form of magnetic compass which can either be used as a hand instrument or can be fitted on a tripod. The greatest advantage of prismatic compass is that both sighting the object as well as reading circle can be done simultaneously without changing the position of the eye. Prismatic Compass comprises of a magnetic needle attached to the circular ring made up of aluminum. The needle is on the pivot and will orient itself in the magnetic meridian, Therefore the north and south ends of the ring will be in this direction. The line of sight is defined by the object vane and the eye slit, both attached to the compass box.

The object vane consist of a vertical hair attached to a suitable frame while the eye slit consist of a vertical slit cut in to the upper assembly of the prism unit, both being hinged to the box. A triangular prism is fitted below the eye slit, having suitable arrangement for focusing to suit different eye sight. The readings increase in clockwise direction from 0o at South end 90o at West end 180o at North end and 270o at East end.

The object vane frame can be folded on the glass lid which covers the top at box. The object vane presses against a lifting lever which lifts the needle of the pivot and holds it against the glass lid. When bright objects are sighted dark glass may be interposed in to the line of sight.

PARTS OF PRISMATIC COMPASS

1. Compass Box Needle 2. Magnetic 4. Pivot 6. Eye Vane 8. Spring Brake

3. Graduated Ring 5. Objective Vane 11. Lifting Pin 9. Brake Pin

7. Adjustable Mirror

13. Focusing Stud

15. Prism Dust Cap

16. Sun Glasses

14. Glass Cover

12. Prism

10. Lifting Lever

THE SURVEYORS COMPASS

Surveyor compass acquires its name from its extensive use by surveyors. But the prismatic compass has now replaced as it is light, compact, and handy. It is similar in construction to the prismatic compass except for a few differences as follows: The graduated ring is attached to the circular box and not to the magnetic needle. The eye vane consists of metal vane with a fine sight hole. As the compass box is turned, the letters N, E, S, and W turn with it, but the needle continues to point towards the north and gives a reading which is dependant on the position of the graduated circle.

The 0o is placed at both north and south directions and 90o is marked at east and west directions. Normally, surveyors compass are available with inbuilt level tube. So, no external level tube is required for levelling purpose. It gives the reading of survey line in quadrant bearing system.

TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT OF A PRISMATIC COMPASS

Before starting a compass survey, the compass should be adjusted properly for accurate reading. The following are the adjustments usually necessary in the prismatic compass:
1) 2) 3) 4)

Centering Leveling Focusing Observing the bearing of a line

1) CENTERING:

The center of the compass is placed vertically over the station point by dropping a small piece of stone below the center of the compass, it falls on the top of the peg marking that station. 2) LEVELLING: By means of ball and socket arrangement the Compass is then leveled the graduated ring swings quite freely. It may be tested by rolling a round pencil on the compass box. 3) FOCUSSING : The prism attachment is slide up or down focusing till the readings are seen to be sharp and clear.

4) OBSERVING BEARING:

The compass centered over station A of the line AB and is leveled. Having turned vertically the prism and sighting vane, raise or lower the prism until the graduations on the rings are clear and look through the prism. Turn the compass box until the ranging rod at the station B is bisected by hair when looked through the prism. When ranging rod B comes in line with the slit of eye vane and the vertical hair of the object vane, the reading is taken through the prism, which gives the bearing of line AB.

MERIDIAN & BEARING

The horizontal angle made by any survey line with respect to some reference line is called Bearing. The bearing of a line is always measured in clockwise direction with respect to some reference line or direction. This fixed reference line is known as Meridian. i. True meridian & True bearing The line passing through the true north and south pole is called True meridian, and the horizontal angle which the line makes with the true meridian is called True bearing.

Magnetic meridian & magnetic bearing The direction shown by a freely suspended needle which is magnetized and balanced properly without influenced by any other factors is known as magnetic meridian. The horizontal angle which the line makes with the magnetic meridian is called Magnetic bearing. iii. Arbitrary meridian & arbitrary bearing In case of small works or in places where true meridian or magnetic meridian can not be determine, then any direction of a prominent object is taken as a reference direction called as Arbitrary meridian. The horizontal angle which the line makes with the arbitrary meridian is called Arbitrary bearing.
ii.

iv. Grid Bearing The

grid bearing of a line is the horizontal angle which the line makes with the grid meridian. The Grid north is generally used with GPS.

INSTRUMENTS USED FOR COMPASS SURVEYING

The various instruments used in the compass survey are : Prismatic compass chain Tape Ranging rods Tripod Plumb-bob Arrows

BEARING SYSTEMS
There are two systems commonly used to express the bearing. WHOLE CIRCLE BEARING (W.C.B.) In this system the bearing of a line measured with the magnetic north in clockwise direction. The value of bearing thus varies from 0o to 360o. QUADRANTAL SYSTEM (Q.B.) In this system the bearing of a line is measured eastward or westward from north or south whichever is near. The directions can be either clock wise or anti clockwise depending upon the position of the line.

REDUCED BEARING (R.B.) When the whole circle bearing of a line is converted into quadrantal bearing, its called Reduced Bearing, which varies between 00to 900 and it should be mentioned with proper designation.

FORE BEARING & BACK BEARING

Every line has two bearings which observed at each end of the line.

The bearing of the line in the direction of progress of the survey is called Fore Bearing (FB), while the bearing in the opposite direction is called Back Bearing (BB). Therefore BB of a line differs from FB by exactly 180o.

MAGNETIC DECLINATION

The angle between true north and magnetic north is call the declination or variation. This angle can be computed approximately from the location of the North magnetic pole. Declination values represent the error between magnetic North and True North, for a specific location. Declination degree values can be either expressed as Easterly and Westerly, or as positive and negative values. Easterly declinations are represented as positive (+) values. Westerly declinations are represented as negative (-) values.

Lines shown on the map through the places that have the same declination are called Isogonic line. Line drawn through places that have zero declination is called an Agonic line.

 Variations in declination

Declination at any point does not remain constant but keeps on changing from place to place & time to time. There variations may classified as under,
a) b) c) d) Diurnal variation Annual variation Secular variation Irregular variation

Depending on where you are, the angle between true north and magnetic north is different. In the U.S., the angle of declination varies from about 20 degrees west in Maine to about 21 degrees east in Washington. The magnetic field lines of the earth are constantly changing, moving slowly westward ( to 1 degree every five years).

ERRORS IN COMPASS OBSERVATIONS

The errors may be classified as,
Instrumental errors Personal errors

Errors due to natural causes

LOCAL ATTRACTION
The magnetic needle always point towards the magnetic meridian when its freely suspended and truly balanced on a pivot. But, when the compass is set up on the field in the presence of iron or steel structure, or any high voltage current, then the magnetic needle will not points towards the magnetic north but it will deflected from its normal position. This deflection of the needle from the magnetic north under the influence of magnetic substances is known as Local attraction. So, when the survey station are affected by the local attraction, the measured bearing should be corrected before plotting the traverse.

Sources of Local attraction

The needle of the magnetic compass may be affected by following sources, a) Natural sources Iron ores Magnetic rocks b) Artificial sources Steel structures Rails Iron pipes Electric lines Metallic chain Steel tapes

ELIMINATION OF LOCAL ATTRACTION

1)

First method In this method, first of all interior angles of a traverse are calculated from the observed bearing. Then the angular check is applied to the calculated angles. If the sum of the interior angles is not equals to (2N-4) X 90, then the total error is equally distributed among all the angles of the traverse. Then starting from the unaffected line, the bearing of all the lines may be corrected by using the corrected angles.

2)

Second method In this method, unaffected line is firstly detected from the given reading. Then starting from that line, the bearing of other affected lines are corrected by finding out the amount of error at each stations.
If

no lines is differ by 1800 in its fore and back bearing, then select a line in which the difference of its FB and BB is nearer to 1800. then find out the mean value of the bearing of that line by applying half the correction to both the fore and back bearing of that line. The modified bearing will be differ by 1800, so proceed with the modified bearing to find out corrected bearing of remaining lines.

CHAIN AND COMPASS SURVEYING FIELD WORK

I.

II. V.

III. IV. VI.

Reconnaissance Preparation of index sketch Marking the station on the ground Locating stations Measuring and recording of survey lines Measurement of bearing of survey lines