Hello everyone,
I am not a surveyor. I am a construction foreman, and wear several hats. I have "surveyed" sites, and have "built" 3D models for dirtwork. After the dirtwork, I am tasked with overseeing the construction of the actual site building. Recent projects have been a 40,000 sq.ft commercial steel building, and a 55,000 sq.ft barn.
I use CAD software to design the buildings, "drafting", and then pull design points off the drawing to layout with a robotic total station. I am entirely self-taught in the use of CAD and the robot, and by no means an expert. Even so, this workflow is much better than pen and pencil, and long tape measures.
I use this site to research procedures and discussions related to layout, measuring, "surveying", and to increase my limited knowledge of using the optical instrument. I am now fairly confident in using the robot and find the machine fast and very accurate, " and occasionally frustrating".
I have wanted to add a GNSS receiver to my arsenal for a while, but cannot justify the price. I am sure GNSS would be a much better fit for the dirtwork aspect of my responsibilities. Have finally bought a Topcon GNSS receiver and am having problems updating the firmware. But this will be a subject for another post.
Will need to hold on to my hat tomorrow, wind is forecast to hit 60MPH...
L4