Attached is a PDF from Carlson about NAD83 State Plane with a total station and more info, just something I found when doing hours of research trying to figure this out. I am not a PLS, I do construction layout and this project happens to be in the State Plan System.
Nice job on ‘sticking to your guns’ and calling them out. You potentially saved their butts some $.
I hate state plane but not because I lack understanding. I hate that the scale factors differ from 1.000 by enough to be a real problem that people attempt to address with this scaling to ground BS.
My state, Oregon, has a system of low distortion projections which everyone should use, IMO, because it eliminates the need for scaling. Nevertheless, most do not, inexplicably. And I really, really hate that.
@Norman_Oklahoma I know Illinois is about to go from 3 zones to like 30 in the near future. I thought Missouri was about to do the same thing. Just for the reasons you described.
Many states are doing so with the NATRF2022 roll out.
I worked on a project that was using a scale factor for everything. It was a large tunnel and road and we couldn't use CSF 1.000000, or else there would be issues. I still remember the scale factor, 0.999954, because we'd do some monitoring and we'd have to put in the scale factor on each new job.
You asked earlier about zeroing the gun, which I assume means setting a zero bearing on a known backsight. If you're using the known backsight setup method, it won't work because the software will calculate and use the bearing between the two known points, your setup point and the backsight. If you want to set a zero bearing, you should be using the set orientation method instead. Out of curiosity, why would you need to do this? When I use the set orientation setup method, I'm working on a new project where I'm picking up known points that I'll later swing into their correct place. On a construction project, where control is established, I would generally resect, or use known backsight, if using ground control points.
