Construction Surveying & Layout

By: Paul Stull

A practical guide to simplified construction surveying.

How to divide land, use a transit and tape to find a known point, draw an accurate survey map from your field notes, use topographic surveys, and the right way to level and set grade.

You'll learn how to make a survey for any residential or commercial lot, driveway, road, or bridge – including how to figure cuts and fills and calculate excavation quantities.

Whether you want to make your own layouts and surveys or just read, understand and verify the accuracy of surveys made by others, you should have this practical guide.

Contents:

1 Introduction to Land Surveying, 9

The History of the U.S. Land Surveys, 10

Land Deeds, 14

2 The Building Site, 19

Type of Development, 20

Choosing a Site, 20

The Next Step, 24

3 The Survey, 25

Surveying Instruments, 26

A Practice Survey, 27

Closing, 30

Economizing in the Field, 34

4 Using a Transit and Tape, 43

Reference Lines, 44

Laying Out Roads, 51

Laying Out a Line, 51

Setting Parallel Lines, 58

Planning a Bridge, 61

5 Applied Geometry Using a Transit, 65

Using an Established Point, 66

Finding a Perpendicular Line, 66

Establishing Parallel Lines, 67

Dividing a Line Into Equal Parts, 68

Drawing a Tangent Circle, 69

Laying Out Angles, 70

Drawing a Circle Through Three Points, 73

Drawing a Hexagon, 74

Ellipses, 75

Pentagons, 77

The Involute of a Circle, 79

6 Stadia Surveying, 83

The Tools, 83

Geometry You'll Need to Know, 85

Practical Considerations, 92

7 Topographic Surveys, 95

Illustrating a Depression, 96

Making a Topographic Survey, 97

8 Leveling, 105

Leveling Instruments, 105

9 Basic Leveling Surveys, 109

Finding Elevations, 110

Types of Leveling, 112

Grade Stakes, 113

Potential for Error, 115

10 Complex Leveling, 117

Evaluating a Site, 118

Planning the Streets, 118

Grading, 123

Necessary Curves, 128

11 Surveying Notes, 145

12 Special Problems, 147

Finding Missing Measurements, 148

Subdividing Land, 162

13 Mapping the Site, 167

Mapping Procedure, 168

General Points, 169

Before Construction Begins, 170

14 Plotting Angles, 171

Using a Protractor, 172

Using Trigonometry, 172

15 True North, Latitude, and Longitude, 177

Locating True North, 178

Locating by Latitude and Longitude, 182

Appendix

A The Transit, 185

B Geometry for Construction, 193

C Trigonometry for Construction, 225

D More Practical Examples, 231

Index, 241

Softcover
244 Pages