Thoughts on a Simple Topo

In days of yore you simply wrote down your intended location and reported the information gathered while knowing you were not precisely on that spot, but, it didn't really matter that much.

Measure with a micrometer.?ÿ Cut with a chain saw.

I remember when we first started using a data collector and doing things radially. Would still lay out a baseline and take shots right and left of the baseline, but not measuring the offsets, just shooting everything radially. The office remarked on how our offset shots weren't perfectly perpendicular to the baseline. Old PC says, "Now you know what we've been lying about for years".

Haven't used the baseline offset method for years. Just curious why you are doing it that way?

Do you remember coming in green to an office? Your first (maybe second) party chief?

Did you stay in that office for a few years; move up a little? Watched the noobs come in while you began to recognize the patterns and general flow of the office? Some came and went. Some stayed and found their crew. That party chief kept grinding nubs, exactly as the place needed him to.

Field dog, I'm guessing you could be 'that' PC. 😉

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On the DC display and pre-set rod height selections, I'm pretty sure survCE does both. I think fieldgenius does, too. But, unlike carlson, it's not a pre-set list of heights. They have a quick change of like +1 or -1 foot.

From the Report of the Topographical Survey of Baltimore, 1894

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In Trimble Access you could use the stake to line function.?ÿ It displays station and offset as it follows the prism then upon store it displays a screen where you can enter a code and see the station/offset.?ÿ I wouldn't personally topo that way, though.

@dave-karoly

This works really nice for x-sectioning levees and you have an alignment to work from.

Posted by: @back-chain

On the DC display and pre-set rod height selections, I'm pretty sure survCE does both.

Yeah, Carlson lets you store 4 or 5 rod heights.?ÿ It also has that button that lets you switch rod heights for 1 shot only which is kind of slick.

HP48GX with SMI will allow me to input any new rod height before I take the shot and then change it back to normal for the rest until a new height comes into play.

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@lookinatchya

The party chief I worked with this week set up the job and started shooting last week. His philosophy is everyone likes looking at a pretty little grid. We shot everything radially.

@back-chain

I remember my first day as a rodman. I held the Philly rod upside down on the very first pavement shot. The I-man was annoyed, but the party chief told him to chill out. Wonder if that I-man knew that sometimes you read an inverted rod as a check.

@mathteacher

Good read. Training is essential to run a survey smoothly.

@dave-karoly

Easier than the way I was doing it.

@bstrand

Those are good features.

@a-harris

The user has to change it back to normal, right?

@field-dog

Yes, simply enter new height and soft key for rod height and take shot and repeat as necessary.

His philosophy is everyone likes looking at a pretty little grid. We shot everything radially.

I hope not ONLY a grid.?ÿ Don't you also get break line points?

@bill93

I don't know what the work order called for. Isn't it SOP to get break line points? When I was helping the crew, there weren't any significant changes in elevation within the offset intervals we were using.