@rover83 I wish I could give this ten thumbs up! There is no substitute for good field notes.
@flga-2-2 We called those green trout.
When you do encounter a problem always assume that you are wrong first, and triple check everything. It may (will) save you from embarrassment or even worse financial woes. ?????ÿ
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Find a bad rod height or incorrect code while in the field? FIX IT IN THE FIELD.?ÿ
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Be careful with control shots that are averaged by the software - adjusting the pole height on the individual shots may not adjust the averaged point.
Better to reshoot the control.
I thought those were called that because they washed up on Peanut Island. Also called "Black Grouper". When I lived there Loxahatchee got bombed at least twice a year by a DC-10 "discharging cargo" ahead of schedule with the Palm Beach County Sheriffs helicopter in hot pursuit. Before they were busted the drop point was near 20 mile bend. ?????ÿ
Using contours in survey processing software to see if there were any gross errors on pole heights
The 12D software that is popular down under allows you to 'walk through' a perspective view of a 3d mode.
I can pick a line feature - say road centreline - and step along it. You can set step length, eye height etc.
I find it a great way check that the modelling matches what I saw in the field.
Good practice.?ÿ All the way down or all the way up.?ÿ No in between to worry about.
Number one biggest automatic mistake of all time:?ÿ Believing every number on a prior survey is an absolute value and should be held no matter what proof you have that it is wrong.
Just assume mistakes are going to happen but if you catch them and fix them before they become someone else's problem, you are golden.
Absolutely True.
What worries me most is the thought of those errors that DO manage to slip through.
(And there will be some)
Before leaving a construction site after setting stakes, take the signed construction plans and confirm that everything makes sense.?ÿ Take a rag tape and check as many stakes as you can and you'll avoid most blunders.?ÿ?ÿ
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I'm working on a hospital project where all the trades are self performing layout with robotic TS. They are using different flavors of TS including Hiti, Trimble, Topcon, Leica and Sokkia.
Since they are not surveyors the software each have dummy proof checks. For instance, one software will not let you stake?ÿ a point which has a distance farther than your backsight distance. Another software prompts the user when a resection geometry is poor. Such as a 10ft BS and 400ft FS.?ÿ These are none surveyors. So if they can see it they try to use it.
Recorded surveys here have to include a legal description for each parcel.?ÿ
After writing the legal, I print it out, then use it to draw the parcel outside the margins to check for closure. PITA but it finds a lot of blunders.?ÿ
Having a structured quality control program in place, and FOLLOW it, is a good way to make sure everything is looked at during different stages of the project, and it has been checked.?ÿ ?ÿMaking a "Big Mistake" is what the OP was worried, but "Missing Data / Information" is bad too.?ÿ ?ÿA good QC/QA program will have checklists to make sure everything is collected, complete, checked/verified, and backed up.?ÿ If its all left to memory.......?ÿ?ÿ
I would add...stop doing level runs with 100 year old tech. Use the total station and run what we call trig loops...and use your data collector. The #1 source of error in leveling is writing the wrong thing down.
And to be fair...I still like the warm and fuzzy of a well calibrated automatic level...
with all the tech we have, it AMAZES me that we don't have a rod that automatically sends the height to the DC.?ÿ?ÿ
100%
When I have any crews that will listen, they use a dummy rod of 999 for any reflectorless shot that isn't a critical elevation.
I've been doing this for just over four years now. As far as I know, I haven't made any big mistakes, but others have in my area and it sends a shiver through me.
Well, I know that what I consider to be a "big" mistake has changed with every new position, and sometimes from job to job. That isn't to say that I cared less in certain instances, but that different things are critical at different times.
I have even found that the things which didn't critical originally can be looked at differently from a few years away.?ÿ
So, big mistake...you might not have enough perspective yet.
A mistake is a learning opportunity.?ÿ Don't forget the ones you made and you'll find yourself making fewer in the future.?ÿ A pet peeve of mine is when a mistake is called an error.
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