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Excel

Programmed calculator.

and our licensed surveyor is an ol’ timer that doesn’t use CAD and wants to just be able to enter the xy coordinates of the points to make sure that the bearing and distances created in CAD are correct.

So he trusts cad to generate the right coordinates but not to label the line correctly? 🙄🤦‍♂️

Great online survey calculator, even stores points.

http://q-cogo.com/

Q-COGO looks interesting. And I second the excel suggestion. Nevertheless, both of these options will require some learning on your bosses part. I think that the real best option here is to learn just enough about CAD to be able to draw a line between coordinate points and query it. Each of those options is roughly an equal effort.

That’s an easy excel formula. It’s an inverse. But some states I know North Carolina geodetic survey has an inverse calculator on one of the web browsers. If you have the coordinates I would just make a custom export out of TBC and write a little macro to pull them in for him and just have the math formulas do the rest. If you own Trimble access reach out to your dealer and have the Trimble access emulator installed on his computer. Then export the points he needs to a csv file and he can link or import in the emulator just like you do in field and do the inverse. The emulator is free.

My data collector does coordinate geometry (COGO) calculations. I could make a coordinate file, upload it and use the data collector inverse routine if I didn't already trust that my CAD system is doing it correctly.

How does he do it now?

I started with an HP calculator.

Older surveyors started with 8 place table books and slide rule or Curta's.

So, I'm assuming he wants a plug in way to do it, that would be CAD.

If that's not good, then Excel.

It's basic checkbook math and trig functions.

So he trusts cad to generate the right coordinates but not to label the line correctly?

Well, the drafting process can leave incorrect labels, depending on the workflow. He has probably been burned before. That said, the process can also include a closure report, and he could use that report to follow every line in the entire map. This is standard on all plats, in our office, but not on all surveys. But in any case, a report can be generated.

lines snapped to a calculated search point, to a check shot point, to a random end line, to almost anything in a cad drawing will mess with the correct location and thus the displayed B&D. I get his concern and it's wise to have independent checks. Much of our review time is spent "cleaning up" lines and points.

Do firms do "comp checks"?<div>

When plats are finalized and before signatures the plats go through a comp check process. An individual, not involved in the drafting and computing of the plats would take a fresh paper set and in an empty file calculate all the data on the set of plats; checking bearings, distances, coordinates, curve data, spelling, scaling easements labeled with a width only etc. Color codes were used to delineate correct data, changes to data, or questions. That marked up set went back to be corrected and it would move forward with the final set for signatures. The surveyor signing would also be part of the review process.

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I've been waiting for someone else to say it, but I guess I have to play the part of the "heavy".

What kind of "professional" land surveyor doesn't have the ability and access to some means to personally calculate even the most basic cogo functions? Is such a person automatically practicing outside the limits of their competence? How can you provide supervision to a subordinate when you haven't any idea how they work? Can such a person actually be considered "professional"?

I don't have a much patience with such BS.

Thanks for saying the silent part outloud.