LEFT and RIGHT are relative terms. MY right, or YOUR right?
It's been the topic of much fussing, on survey crews.
What do you do, when the instrument man, can only see the prism pole, sticking up?
Well, we developed, the protocol that RIGHT and LEFT were ALWAYS relative to the instrument man.
The theory behind this, was that the Inst man had ENOUGH on his plate, running the field book, or Data collector, and all he does, that the rod man should learn to THINK relative to the inst.
Then, we have conversions like:
GO LEFT, NO!! YOUR OTHER LEFT!!
Then, we have the instrument man, using a NEW guy, and the new guy came with habits, and the instrument man has to THINK in terms of what the rod man can know... on his first day, and he is not used to thinking that way...
Anyway, here are some RIGHT/LEFT in other languages:
On board ship:
Starboard is Right, Port is Left,
[MEDIA=youtube]SAjcJDoz9wM[/MEDIA]
In Latin:
Dexter is Right, Sinister is Left
In Spanish:
RIGHT (La derecha), LEFT (La izquierda) and
In Russian:
RIGHT is na pravo, and Left is na levo
[MEDIA=youtube]q1hBD6lUwac[/MEDIA]
It seemed interesting to to see how others do it.
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For good measure, I try to tell the help my Left, your Right or the other way around. Running a robot will tend to make you think about things from the rod perspective. Many times I have seen problems occur in this process, so If there is help involved I say it both ways.
If you were directly behind the rod you would move to your left six inches.
When you have a rodman who knows directions as well as you do.............go six inches northwest
Donning asbestos underpants for those who believe surveyors should never, ever mention inches.
Stage left, house right etc. in the entertainment business. You don't often say left or right without a modifier.
Left should be left, if the instrument man is telling the rod man, it should be to the rod man's left. If the rod man is talking to the instrument man it should be to the instrument man's left. That's not confusing.
That dude on the first video is talking way too fast for me, can hardly understand a thing. Kinda like one of those "time share" salesman.
Great post!
To YOUR left
To YOUR right
Away from me
Towards me
What if the line runs north/south and the rodman is facing east?
Which way is left or right?
Holy Cow, post: 404519, member: 50 wrote: Away from you
or
Towards you
:smarty:
To the rodman: "you had better lock yourself in the car so I can't get at you", is fairly unambiguous.
We were always creative when it came to verbal direction to a rodman. Line was determined by telling the rodman (understood to be the rodman's right or left) "Ronno" or "Louie". These words seemed a little more discernible in the wind at a distance. I believe these came from an old party chief.
After we obtained EDM capabilities (from a boss that didn't want to invest in any radios) we came up with "Hawaii" (away from the gun) and "Tony" (toward the gun, an evolution of the words 'to me').
Things that kept it interesting in the field I guess.
It's funny, I was just yesterday working in the field with one of my employees. My party chief has been out for medical reasons, and I've got to spend some time back in the field, a real treat getting away from phone calls and emails. Now this is a real bright kid, he's worked for just over a year and has picked things up QUICK. So we had the gun on line and I wanted him to give me line so I could put in a line point. I noticed he was surprising slow at giving the left/right for line and realized that he had never been trained to do so. His party chief, who's over twenty years experienced found it slower to have the instrument man turn off the angle then give the left/right, instead, shooting in stakeout mode and giving a left/right, come/go. As we know, a skilled crew can do this in seconds. I find it much easier to actually know where line is so you are properly oriented....it may be time to return to the basics.
I drilled troops for a bit. If I can see you, you can hear me. As for left and right, it's always been the Rodman left/right.
My rule has been to train rodmen to stand directly behind the rod so that they are looking directly at me with the rod between us. I go on to explain that in the rare occasion that they must stand somewhere other than directly behind the rod they are to follow my directions as if they are directly behind the rod. I can't always see them but they had dammed welll better be able to know where I am and point the prism in that direction. Failure to do so will be painful.
On rare occasions I will add to the message to them something like, "If you were standing behind the rod as you normally do, you would need to move 6 inches to your left."
Before robots, we always used the rod man's perspective.
If you eliminate everything that's wrong, what's left is right.
Always the rod man's perspective.
Holy Cow, post: 404491, member: 50 wrote: If you were directly behind the rod you would move to your left six inches.
When you have a rodman who knows directions as well as you do.............go six inches northwest
Donning asbestos underpants for those who believe surveyors should never, ever mention inches.
Wow. Can't believe you did that. I just checked and the teeth marks are still on my backside from the butt chewings I got for that. "Inches are for architects and hookers".
Although I normally use right & left from the rodman's perspective, I am not married to right & left... I frequently use N, S, E, W or away from & to you... and of course, "you're other left"... Now carry on with great accuracy folks... and enjoy surveying 
Lloyd L Tolbert, post: 404620, member: 10177 wrote: ... I frequently use N, S, E, W or away from & to you...
I too have used cardinal directions. One disheartening fact is there are a lot more rodmen nowadays (than in years past) that will look up from the bubble and look at you like you're crazy when you mention 'directions'. Silly me, I just assume everybody has an internal instinctual compass like myself...that's apparently not the case....:(
paden cash, post: 404621, member: 20 wrote: I just assume everybody has an internal instinctual compass like myself
I'm jealous. I tend to crudely keep track by where the sun is, and assume the PLSS section line roads are aligned. But give me an overcast day, a curvy road, and unfamiliar territory and my internal compass loses all magnetism.
I even have trouble relating directions in one area I'm familiar with to those in another area I'm familiar with. I could swear if I didn't know better that North where I live aligns with West where I grew up. When I go back to the hometown I have to be sure I think about direction to familiar places or I'll say the wrong one. Anybody have a cure?
