Tips & Tricks for field technicians
Taking a shot and then rotating pole 180°, taking a second shot and averaging the shots cancels out any bubble error or pole runout (banana in the pole you can't adjust our); works for both GNSS and TS in the age where tripods are often just for putting the robot on not traversing. With GNSS consider resetting the fix between shots for greater independence.
Before taking shots (and between repeat shots at a point) to a prism hold your hand in front of prism to check you are locked on to prism on pole not backsight etc. and to reset the lock.
When you are setting up TS over a point with backsight and check point and something is screwy move the TS off the point and resection off the three points, should identify which point doesn't fit. Usually a wrong pole height when the control was set! Or you relaxed your pole plumbing a bit soon before point stored/pole bubble is out.
Regularly check pole/tribrach bubbles adjusted. Leg hinges are firm but not tight, legs shoes not loose.
Bipods are heavy, can bang against pole when walking and slower to plumb up than a spade and an old ski pole (or timber stake) cut to same height as spade and some rubber on the top end held as 90° to each other against pole. Your carrying the spade anyway to dig up monuments etc. and the cutoff ski pole weights nothing.
Health and safety; when digging for (or placing) monuments/control points think telecoms., water and sewer/stormwater may cost you $$ if you hit. Power and possibly gas will kill you!
If you have a hole open for a control point and turn up to find it full of water and don't have a container to bail it out most soil thrown in the hole will soak it up. Dig out, repeat until water gone.
Always keep the truck stocked up, you never know where you'll end up some days and makes for a sad trip back to the office to get one more mark to finish a job.
Slow down your chiefs. Some of them have been whipped into hurry hurry hurry. I went out a couple weeks ago to train a chief. It was told to him by the owner. When I arrived at the site it took me 2 hrs to calm him down as I was explaining things like elevation cut off what signal to noise was why we use observe control point methods etc. he wanted his 1000 shots per day had to get a 1000 shots per day. His words. Doing Topo with rtk he walked fast yep good. As soon as he typed a code and set rod down he was on the enter button just clicking. Took a bit to make him understand but sometimes these young techs will accomplish way more by taking a small pause like seeing a break line that should be located or an item he walked past twice that was extremely important. Bring them into the office and have the run the field to finish for code corrections. Let them see the surface as you correct it so they understand what a break line is why they are needed etc.
The most important thing is to pair the new guy with a patient PC. Few new people have any practical knowledge of land surveying and it's important the PC explains what is going to be done and how. It is equally important for the new person to ask the how's and why's for at least the first few years.
The bubble moves the same direction as your left thumb
Then close the box. Keep the inside pristine
AMEN Norm.. My first six years were military. Close the site box or it's a no-go...
I had a guy like that. Didn't realize until I went out one day to meet him. He didn't see me. He was hardly stopping to take shot.
Great advice!
Really great stuff! Keep it coming.
Thank you!!
When levelling as rodman, position yourself behind the rod and face the instrument. That way you get the rod squared up to the line of sight. If you stand off to the side, not so much.
When booking level notes - say the reading to your self out loud, then write it down. Close your eyes and think impure thoughts for a moment. Open and read, out loud, what you just wrote down. Then look at the screen (or at the rod through the telescope) and confirm that you wrote it right.
If the outside temperature is more than about 10° different from the storage room temperature, and you are hoping for really tight closures, allow your level a few minutes to acclimatize before beginning work.
At all times you should imagine that there is a little leprechaun on your shoulder asking how you are f'ing up this time. And at all times you should be prepared to prove him wrong, a year in the future, with positive, documented proof. Conduct your work accordingly.
3 hundredths per minute per hundred feet.
