Notifications
Clear all

Lets see some good examples of field notes

21 Posts
16 Users
9 Reactions
535 Views
(@suppers-ready)
Posts: 3
Member
Topic starter
 

Trying to get better with writing field notes to appease the office monkeys.

Just curious to see how y'all do it!

 
Posted : January 22, 2025 12:40 pm
bill93
(@bill93)
Posts: 9867
Member
 

Most older surveying texts have a lot of field note examples. Wolf and Ghilani, my favorite recent text, has gotten very sparse on field notes. Also you might look for a copy (old) of Wattles _Survey Drafting_ which shows the notes that the drafters of an earlier era expected in order to do their work.

It might help to go back over some of your past notes and ask yourself if they really tell everything needed to make them unambiguous, or whether you needed to remember some things that weren't written down.

It's an art to make clear and complete notes. I have never gotten the clear part down. I always wind up with too much crowded into the page.

 
Posted : January 22, 2025 7:26 pm
(@bouchett)
Posts: 16
Member
 

I don't know if these qualify as good but here are some of my typical notes while using our local RTN. This was a very small job but you should get the idea.

 

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 8:54 am
(@james-fleming)
Posts: 5696
Member
 

Somewhere I found a PDF of this online and have used examples of it for a while now

image

 

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 10:18 am
dgm-pls
(@dgm-pls)
Posts: 274
Member
 

Personally, I would rather 100 well done photos of a site than a "great sketch".  I see most detailed sketches these days as lost time that can be better spent digging a little deeper in the ground or in the research for the survey than drawing in the book.  Maybe it is because I can't hand draw for beans that I feel this way.  Maybe there are other reasons. 

Conveying info to the drafters, calculators and decision makers is paramount of course and this is not meant to minimize that but I find it easier to have good coding, numerous photos and a real basic quick sketch to go along with my measurements. 

FWIW, it is even better to have the field surveyor doing the calculations and drafting a plan.  It is a system that I joined into and find it works best for all the surveys that we do.  Maybe not for everyone out there but I recommend it to all.

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 10:40 am
1

Norman_Oklahoma
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7728
Member
 

What constitutes good notes has everything to do with what sort of job you are doing, what equipment you are employing, and what work flow - field to finished map - your organization is following. Making good notes as defined by a 1960's era publication would be a useless time suck in 2025.  Please tell us more about what kind of work you are doing, and how the data gets handled by the "office monkeys" so we can give advise that may be useful.

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 12:24 pm
1
(@suppers-ready)
Posts: 3
Member
Topic starter
 

@norman-oklahoma 

I do a good bit of everything from Alta boundary and topos, construction staking etc. 

Just looking to see how everyone lays their books out for reference.

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 6:28 pm
(@nvpls20441)
Posts: 1
Member
 

Here is a typical FB entry, ( I haven’t been here long enough to post photos or link files) but my typical entries are as follows.

cover page with;

wo number

job name and description of the days work

file I’m working in and exported file .txt

point ranges

calibration files and control files used

 Crew names 

temperature and conditions

 

 

next page;

point , field code, topo description 

ie   1000, 903, fence at N/G (natural ground )

all manholes are drawn in with depths and oriented north up. Manholes and odd details usually are accompanied by a DC photo collected in the field as well.  Also since I run a SX10, fast scans are taken at every field setup if I am using a total station for topo 

 
Posted : January 23, 2025 8:54 pm
(@wa-id-surveyor)
Posts: 933
Member
 

Posted by: @suppers-ready

Trying to get better with writing field notes to appease the office monkeys.

Just curious to see how y'all do it!

There should be a seamless communication loop (without childish names) between the field and office with oversight by the PLS or department head.   No, they don't need to be licensed as long as they are smart, aware and have good management skills.   I've been there, I've seen it all and that is not a good environment to grow in.  

I just turned my 3 party chiefs into well rounded office staff as well.  Once that is setup your office and field staff are the same person.  

 

 
Posted : January 24, 2025 9:08 am
Norman_Oklahoma
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7728
Member
 

Posted by: @suppers-ready

I do a good bit of everything from Alta boundary and topos, construction staking etc.

Notes for control, for boundary, for topo, and for construction all have unique features. Notes for ALTA will typically be a compilation of the first three of those.   

Work Flow

You haven't mentioned whether you are doing "field to finish" coding.  This has a very material influence on what sort of notes are needed. In todays world of Google Earth Aerial and Street views, augmented by digital photos, and further by field to finish coding I can't see any need for detailed sketches of topographic features. 

I have a policy about point numbering which alone says a lot about my points, which therefore doesn't need to be noted. Points numbered 1-99 are control points monumented with Bernsten copper plugs, 1/2" iron rods with caps, or better. Every job gets a minimum of 3 of theses, often across the street from the site. Numbers 100-399 are boundary monuments. 400-499 are search calcs. 500-999 are calculated corners for staking. Topo points are 10000 and up. Points number 1000-9999 have various uses related to construction staking. I do most topo collection from unmonumented resected positions which are given a number in the string of topo points.  Mag Nails, wood hubs, and scratch marks set for control are considered temporary and are numbered with the topo points. 

Generally, if you have to manually enter something in your data collector it should be backed up with a field book note. Field data file names, Setup and backsight point numbers and measure ups, blocks of point numbers shot.   Detailed descriptions of found boundary monuments are useful, photos may be even more so, presuming they can be related to specific points in some manner.  Three photos is best. A close up, a photo from eye level, and a photo of the general area that includes the monument and background including some blue sky.

 

 
Posted : January 24, 2025 10:21 am
1

james-vianna
(@james-vianna)
Posts: 651
Supporter
 

All you will ever need to know about field note taking. You just don't see this kind of work anymore. I wish I was a tenth as good as these guys.

 
Posted : January 28, 2025 6:11 am
3
NotSoMuch
(@notsomuch)
Posts: 348
Member
 

@james-vianna What an awesome reference!  Reminds me of my technical drafting instruction and early 3-man crew survey work back in the late '70s and early '80s.

This post was modified 3 weeks ago by NotSoMuch
 
Posted : January 28, 2025 7:04 am
MightyMoe
(@mightymoe)
Posts: 9988
Supporter
 

Our field notes went to full books to sheets of field book paper with a DYMO label for the front of the job listing the client, J# and location. Under that a hand written note with date and crew initials. On the other side control point # and a list of points with quick labels. Nothing like the old days. 

DC files, spoken notes and photos are the field book replacement.

 
Posted : January 28, 2025 8:28 am
(@bstrand)
Posts: 2359
Member
 

I don't have a sample of what I do on hand, but I had one place I worked tell me it was a "narrative" style and that it wasn't allowed. 🙄 

 
Posted : January 28, 2025 9:37 am
Williwaw
(@williwaw)
Posts: 3384
Supporter
 

Posted by: @james-vianna

All you will ever need to know about field note taking. You just don't see this kind of work anymore. I wish I was a tenth as good as these guys.

-- attachment is not available --

Wish I had this when I was starting out just as a reference. 

 

Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.

 
Posted : January 28, 2025 9:38 am

bill93
(@bill93)
Posts: 9867
Member
 

Posted by: @james-vianna

I wish I was a tenth as good as these guys.

I'm sure there were some good note takers, but I'll bet all those examples were done in an office and chosen to fit nicely on the page. Great examples to aim for, but maybe not real field notes.

For example, how did they get the diagram of the canyon survey (pdf pg 59) on field book page 2 anywhere near right before they took the data on later pages?

 

 
Posted : January 28, 2025 7:28 pm
1
alan-cook
(@alan-cook)
Posts: 406
Member
 

@bill93

Bill,

Since I did all of my own record work and prepared deed note drawings for the field, I would more often than not prepare field book sketches before I headed out in the field.  I would then set up my traverse and make detailed sketches before I actually started running the boundary and locating improvements. 

In the case of sketching and running at the same time, field sketches were very crude and usually redrawn when I got in that evening.

 

Alan

 
Posted : January 29, 2025 7:29 am
Norman_Oklahoma
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7728
Member
 

Posted by: @bill93

I'll bet all those examples were done in an office

Just like all GLO "field notes". I have a small collection of "field books" from c.1980 here. Beautiful examples of the draftsman's art. But clearly have never been in the field. Also, absolutely useless.    

A couple of local agencies around here (Marion County, City of Portland) have collections of actual field books that I have seen. They are nothing like the beautiful examples in that publication. They are, in fact, about 95% illegible scrawl. 

 
Posted : January 29, 2025 9:10 am
james-vianna
(@james-vianna)
Posts: 651
Supporter
 

When I first started in surveying back in the mid 80's I was on a three man crew. The standard practice for a typical small survey was to first have all three of us recon for pins. Then the crew chief would sit in the truck with a large clipboard, scale, triangles etc. and start to draft a darn near completed plat. The instrument man would hand him notes of angles turned and taped distances from each setup as we went around the job and he would protract them on his sketch. Then we would make a rough sketch of improvements with dimensions for him to add to his notes. He would calc the angles and distances for us to use to set any missing corners. The end result was the sketch he finished could be handed to the draftsmen in the office ready for final mapping. His work was as complete and neat as the examples in that book.

 
Posted : January 29, 2025 10:27 am
(@antcrook)
Posts: 279
Supporter
 

Here is a typical field sketch my crew do.

 

Field Sketch

 

 
Posted : January 29, 2025 10:50 am

Page 1 / 2