The general public does not know the difference between these.
All they know is that "That guy was looking through that thing .."
It kind of bugs me.
I'd like to discuss how to educate the general public.
Nate
PS here is a New Metric Lenker Rod, on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Linker-survey-rod-grade-level-transit-laser-metric-construction-equipment-/400385140565?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d38d06755
Tapes for them is about 60.00. That could be just right for somebody, that needs a lenker.
Thanks!
N
As my wife put it when I read her your post, “First of all you have to make them care.”
I have several times used the eBay question box to let somebody know what it was they were selling, but I don’t recall being thanked for the info. On a tenuously related website devoted to geocaching and survey mark hunting, there are frequent complaints about people who put up bogus find logs—anything from outright lies down to not knowing the difference between the main station and a reference disk. Offering correction to those folks usually evokes response on a fairly narrow range inclusive of silence and derision, though serious hunters who make mistakes are usually glad to hear about them.
Cheers,
Henry
You Are Asking Too Much Nate
Google "transit" and you will not find a link or reference to a surveying instrument. If you cannot Google it, it doesn't exist. Yet transit is the most common name older Americans understand as an instrument of surveying. Forget theodolite or total station. Most even think a leveling instrument is a transit.
It is doubtful anyone on this board has ever used a theodolite that did not also qualify as a transit, in that the scope could be plunged. A transit with stadia lines or even a level with horiziontl circle and stadia meets the definition of a total station in that one can make angle and distance measurements.
Paul in PA
You Are Asking Too Much Nate
heard it, the instrument was once called a "transiting theodolite". In the US, they (we) shortened the term to "transit" and in Europe they shortened the term to "theolodite". Later the different instruments that developed out of the different continents became that name. Generally speaking the ones with the internal verniers were theodolites and the external verniers were the transits. But I'm not positive. That's just how I learned it.
My old Topcon was called a total station because you could read the internal vernier, but it also had a built-in edm.
To the public, they're all "cameras". (Hey take my picture yuk, yuk, yuk). Of course today I suspect the total station will be one that can also snap pictures, so maybe the public was ahead of their time. 😀
I consider myself lucky if people know me, let alone my equipment. I called a client today to deliver her survey and she said "Oh, you're the survey guy". I said yes ma'am that's me.
I guess Y'all is right... it is asking a bit much. Somehow, in my head, I think they are all connected.... for some they will relate to the instrument part, and other will related to the boundary part, and others will relate to the deed part, but it takes a SURVEYOR to relate to all of them at once.
I should get more involved in educating the locals.
Nate
Most folks want me to take their picture with my "camera". Caused quite a bit of excitement once when doing a job in the city's public housing neighborhood. All of the DB's went into hiding.
I had a kid about 12 years old come up to me in Peekskill, NY circa 1985 who should
have been in school. He wanted to know if he would be on the news. I
told him it wasn't a camera. He said - What that is man? Talk about
the perfect time to educate someone.
Wonder how he is doing today.... He actually seemed like a cool kid.
At least he was interested.