DEFINITION:
Surveying may be defined as the science of determining the position, in three dimensions, of natural and man-made features on or beneath the surface of the Earth. These features may be represented in analogue form as a contoured map, plan or chart, or in digital form such as a digital ground model (DGM). In engineering surveying, either or both of the above formats may be used for planning, design and construction of works, both on the surface and underground. At a later stage, surveying techniques are used for dimensional control or setting out of designed constructional elements and also for monitoring deformation movements.

In the first instance, surveying requires management and decision making in deciding the appropriate methods and instrumentation required to complete the task satisfactorily to the specified accuracy and within the time limits available. This initial process can only be properly executed after very careful and detailed reconnaissance of the area to be surveyed. When the above logistics are complete, the field work – involving the capture and storage of field data – is carried out using instruments and techniques appropriate to the task in hand.

Processing the data is the next step in the operation. The majority, if not all, of the computation will be carried out with computing aids ranging from pocket calculator to personal computer. The methods adopted will depend upon the size and precision of the survey and the manner of its recording; whether in a field book or a data logger. Data representation in analogue or digital form may now be carried out by conventional cartographic plotting or through a totally automated computer-based system leading to a paper- or screen-based plot. In engineering, the plan or DGM is used when planning and designing a construction project. The project may be a railway, highway, dam, bridge, or even a new town complex. No matter what the work is, or how complicated, it must be set out on the ground in its correct place and to its correct dimensions, within the tolerances specified. To this end, surveying procedures and instrumentation of varying precision and complexity are used depending on the project in hand.

PRINCIPLES:
Every profession must be founded upon sound practice and in this engineering surveying is no different. Practice in turn must be based upon proven principles. This section is concerned with examining the principles of survey, describing their interrelationship and showing how they may be applied in practice. Most of the principles below have an application at all stages of a survey and it is an unwise and unprofessional surveyor who does not take them into consideration when planning, executing, computing and presenting the results of the survey work. The principles described here have application across the whole spectrum of survey activity, from field work to photogrammetry, mining surveying to metrology, hydrography to cartography, and cadastral to construction surveying.

Control:
A control network is the framework of survey stations whose coordinates have been precisely determined and are often considered definitive. The stations are the reference monuments, to which other survey work of a lesser quality is related. By its nature, a control survey needs to be precise, complete and reliable and it must be possible to show that these qualities have been achieved. This is done by using equipment of proven precision, with methods that satisfy the principles and data processing that not only computes the correct values but gives numerical measures of their precision and reliability. Since care needs to be taken over the provision of control, then it must be planned to ensure that it achieves the numerically stated objectives of precision and reliability. It must also be complete as it will be needed for all related and dependent survey work. Other survey works that may use the control will usually be less precise but of greater quantity.

Examples are setting out for earthworks on a construction site, detail surveys of a greenfield site or of an as-built development and monitoring many points on a structure suspected of undergoing deformation. The practice of using a control framework as a basis for further survey operations is often called ‘working from the whole to the part’. If it becomes necessary to work outside the control framework then it must be extended to cover the increased area of operations. Failure to do so will degrade the accuracy of later survey work even if the quality of survey observations is maintained. For operations other than setting out, it is not strictly necessary to observe the control before other survey work. The observations may be concurrent or even consecutive. However, the control survey must be fully computed before any other work is made to depend upon it.

Economy of accuracy:
Surveys are only ever undertaken for a specific purpose and so should be as accurate as they need to be, but not more accurate. In spite of modern equipment, automated systems, and statistical data processing the business of survey is still a manpower intensive one and needs to be kept to an economic minimum. Once the requirement for a survey or some setting out exists, then part of the specification for the work must include a statement of the relative and absolute accuracies to be achieved. From this, a specification for the control survey may be derived and once this specification has been achieved, there is no requirement for further work.

Consistency:
Any ‘product’ is only as good as the most poorly executed part of it. It matters not whether that ‘product’ is a washing machine or open heart surgery, a weakness or inconsistency in the endeavour could cause a catastrophic failure. The same may apply in survey, especially with control. For example, say the majority of control on a construction site is established to a certain designed precision. Later one or two further control points are less well established, but all the control is assumed to be of the same quality. When holding-down bolts for a steelwork fabrication are set out from the erroneous control it may require a good nudge from a JCB to make the later stages of the steelwork fit.

The Independent check:
The independent check is a technique of quality assurance. It is a means of guarding against a blunder or gross error and the principle must be applied at all stages of a survey. Failure to do so will lead to the risk, if not probability, of ‘catastrophic failure’ of the survey work. If observations are made with optical or mechanical instruments, then the observations will need to be written down. A standard format should be used, with sufficient arithmetic checks upon the booking sheet to ensure that there are no computational errors. The observations should be repeated, or better, made in a different manner to ensure that they are in sympathy with each other. For example, if a rectangular building is to be set out, then once the four corners have been set out, opposite sides should be the same length and so should the diagonals. The sides and diagonals should also be related through Pythagoras’ theorem. Such checks and many others will be familiar to the practising surveyor.