Height of trees - Any Foresters out there...

Clinometer and tape is how I was taught to do it too.

That looks like a pretty cool little toy..

Thanks for all the replies. Ill see what we can do. We need to be accurate. The client wants to design a building to cross over these 25 trees. Kinda silly really, the trees will continue to grow up and the building will just stay there, but hey I'm not an architect.

I put out a proposal a few months ago for a hotel's PV project. (Didn't get it). Topo with elevations of surrounding buildings and trees.
I never figured out exactly how to do it though. I thought I might use a 25' fiberglass rod with a prism on top and 2x4's for extensions. The branches would help support the rod.

Maybe call around to some tree topping companies and get one of them dudes to run a rag tape up the tree.

> ... The client wants to design a building to cross over these 25 trees.

Can you explain that? A building over the top of 100' tall trees?! Sorry if I'm not getting it but I just don't understand that statement :-S

That joke says so much

Did you not read the original post?

That's the type of PRACTICAL thinking that is missing with 90% of over educated people.
When they measure trunk diameter they will get it to the hundredth too. Serious.
An aerial for 25 tree tops? Are you kidding?

Hello friend.

Project X?

This really says a LOT about architects.
(or the sad state of higher education)
Never had any respect for the intellectual abilities of architects.
Art Majors with a calculator. And rarely use the calculator.

Get out your stopwatch and measure how long it takes for the birdshlt to hit the ground. Plug into the equation s = 1/2 G (t squared) where g =32 ft/second and t= time.

There is an app for that and it varies in accuracy depending upon your phone.

SmartMeasure

If it is that hilly you can shoot the base of the tree and run levels up the hill until you sight the top of the tree, or do it with a TS on a short 3D traverse.

Every architectural endeavor I've seen to construct around, over and include a tree or trees has resulted in either the tree dying or tree growing and damaging the structure.

😉

:good:

Forester

I drive a Subaru Forester. 😉

in fact I did. he is talking about setting up his instrument and not being able to set up close because of hills, which would limit your ability to use the instrument to get your vertical angle. I assuming that you know you can sight well passed what you can shot with an instrument with a clinometer.

What would Ted Dura Do?

CLIMB IT YOU BUNCH OF CRYBABIES! MEASURE IT! YOU ARE PAID 7.00 AN HR. GET UP THAT TREE!

Just remembering old Ted.

Nate

Gee, only $20,000.

I still like the "stack PVC pipes on top of each other" idea.
Only $1.50 each at Home Depot. Then use'em in backyard.

I'm retired, live in SoCal
I have an old LaserCraft Contour XLRic that does a lot of the same stuff.
I have measured to a tree at 3500 ft.
Bought on ebay for $450. Second one I got for $50 as-is but works fine.

Not sure how high an angle it will go but at some point it probably doesn't matter.

Pay my airfare both ways.
Pay for hotel, meals and rental car for a week (so I can do local sightseeing)
I'm into Mountain Man Era history so St Louis would be great to visit.

I'll be there.

I repeat
Those that can, do
Those that can't, teach.

I took a semester long, weekend class from a well known Professor (who will remain anonymous). This was back in the dawn of GPS for surveyors circa 1986
Textbook example of "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with BS"
Absolute waste of time.
Reminded me of Prof Irwin Cory. right down to the suit and tennis shoes.
Wikipedia

OK let's start from the top and explain the obvious.
Let's assume:
_a 100 ft tree.
_it has branches and leaves.
_we are not dealing with a telephone pole.
_need to be reasonably sure we are seeing the "top" of tree.
_I'm using zero degrees on horizon, 90 at zenith here.
_Using my trusty iPhone inclinometer (reads to 0.1 degree!!)
_Could use my Total Station to mea a VA up to 60 deg+ using rifle sight on tube.

I went to my park and found a reasonable tree.
It was alone, clear in all directions.

01) Typically, ideally, a person would want to be far away enough
____so as to be reasonably sure we are seeing the actual tree top.
02) That would imply 0 degrees to roughly 45 degrees using my example tree.
03) Careful calculation shows 45 degrees = 100ft from said 100ft tree.
04) 45 degrees is easily measured with my (or poster's) Total Station/ Transit
05) 100 ft is also easily measured with Total Station
05) So Assume our poster could not do this due to obstructions
06) Getting closer to tree = larger vertical angle.
07) Getting closer to tree = increasing impossiblity to see actual top of tree.
08) Getting closer to tree = wildly innacurate trig vertical distance
09) ex. 30ft from 100ft tree implies a VA = 73 degrees
________ error? mea 70 deg = 82 ft = -18 ft ht error
________ error? mea 75 deg = 112 ft = +12 ft ht error
________ can you even measure +/- 3 deg with handheld inst? See "top"?
________ OK. Didn't think so