NAME: ENARUNA SALVATION OSAIVBIE
MATRICULATION NUMBER: ENV1805795
LEVEL: 300
DEPARTMENT: GEOMATICS
COURSE CODE: GEM 331
*DISCUSS TRIANGULATION, TRILATERATION,TRAVERSE AND
THEIR COMBINATION
TRIANGULATION
In navigation, surveying, and civil engineering, a technique for precise
determination of a ship’s or aircraft’s position, and the direction of roads, tunnels,
or other structures under construction. It is based on the laws of plane
trigonometry, which state that, if one side and two angles of a triangle are known,
the other two sides and angle can be readily calculated. One side of the selected
triangle is measured; this is the baseline. The two adjacent angles are measured by
means of a surveying device known as a theodolite, and the entire triangle is
established. By constructing a series of such triangles, each adjacent to at least one
other triangle, values can be obtained for distances and angles not otherwise
measurable. Triangulation was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks,
and other peoples at a very early date, with crude sighting devices that were
improved into the diopter, or dioptra (an early theodolite), and were described in
the 1st century AD by Heron of Alexandria.
In surveying, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a
point by measuring only angles to it from known points at either end of a
fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly as in
trilateration. The point can then be fixed as the third point of a triangle
with one known side and two known angles.
The position of any vertex of a triangle can be calculated if the position of one side, and two angles, are
known. The following formulae are strictly correct only for a flat surface. If the curvature of the Earth
must be allowed for, then spherical trigonometry must be used.
Triangulation surveying was first introduced by a Dutch man named Sneli.
Triangulation is preferred for hills and undulating areas, since it is easy to establish stations at reasonable
distances apart, with intervisibility. In plane and crowded areas it is not suitable as the intervisibility of
stations is affected. The difficulty is overcome by building towers which is quite expensive.
The main disadvantage of triangulation is the accumulation of error in the lengths and direction of lines,
since both of them, for successive lines, depend upon the computations for those of the preceding line,
which necessitates the check bases.
In triangulation, entire area to be surveyed is covered with a framework of triangles. For the triangle, the
length of the first line, which is measured precisely is known as Base line.
The other two Computed sides are used as new baselines for two other triangles interconnected with the
first triangle. By extending this process, a chain or network of triangles can be spread over the entire area.
Triangulation Network
The angles in the triangles are measured using a theodolite, which is an instrument with a telescope
connected to two rotating circles (one horizontal and one vertical) to measure the horizontal and vertical
angles. A good quality theodolite used for geodetic surveys would be graduated to 0.1 second of an arc
and an angle resulting from repeated measurements would typically have an accuracy of about 1 second
of arc, which is equivalent to about 5 cm over a distance of 10 kilometres.
In triangulation the vertical angles are not needed, but they can be used to measure the difference in
height between the points.
Operations in Triangulation Survey
The field work of a triangulation is carried out in the following well defined operations:
Reconnaissance
Station preparation
Baseline measurement
Measurement of angles.
Besides field work, triangulation consists of the specifications, the design of stations and signals, and the
reduction and adjustment of the observations.
Applications of Triangulation Surveying
Establishing accurately located control points for plane and geodetic surveys of large areas.
Establishing accurately located control points in connection with aerial surveying
Accurate location of engineering projects such as Centre lines, terminal points and shafts for long tunnels,
and Centre lines and abutments for long span bridges.
Triangulation Systems
A system consisting of triangulation stations connected by a chain of triangles. The complete fig is called
triangulation system or triangulation figure. The most common type of figures used in a triangulation
system are
Triangles
Quadrilaterals
Polygons
Geometric conditions to be fulfilled by above figures in triangulation system are:
The sum of interior angles should be (2n-4)x90o, where n = no.of sides of the figure
If all the angles are measured at a station, their sum should be 360o.
The length of sides calculated through more than one routes should agree.
It is impossible to fulfil all the geometric conditions, owing to the errors, until the field measurements
have been adjusted.
Triangles
1. A chain of triangles is very rapid and economical when a narrow strip of terrain is to be surveyed.
2. Angles less than 30o or more than 120o are not permitted
3. For well-conditioned triangles, angles should not be less than 30o or more than 120o.
Triangulation Surveying
Advantages of triangles:
This is simple and rapid
Economical method
Disadvantages:
Since it is used to survey a long narrow strip, a no.of base lines must be introduced frequently to reduce
the accumulation of errors. Therefore, a single chain of triangles is never permitted in high order
triangulation.
Least accurate method.
Quadrilaterals
These afford an excellent system since the various combinations of sides and angles can be used to
compute the lengths of required sides, and checks can be made frequently
The best quadrilateral is square. A quadrilateral with both diagonals having no station at their intersection
is usually employed.
This is best suited for hilly areas.
Triangulation Surveying
Advantages
Most accurate system as the number of checks are more.
Polygons
1. When areas that are very wide in proportion to their lengths are to be surveyed then pentagonal or
hexagonal figures may be economical.
2. These may or may not have a central station.
Trilateration
In the 1950s, accurate methods of measuring long distances (typically 30 to 50 km) were developed.
They used the known speed of light (299,792.458 km per second) and the timed reflection of a microwave
or light wave along the measured line. Known as Electromagnetic Distance Measurement (EDM), the
two initial types of instrument were the ‘Tellurometer’, which used a microwave, and ‘Geodimeter’,
which used a light wave.
The distances in a triangle could then be measured directly instead of calculating them from the observed
angles. If needed the angles could be calculated. The process of calculating positions through the chain
of triangles is then the same as for triangulation.
Sometimes both angles and distances were measured in some triangles to check on the observations and
improve the accuracy of the calculations.
Trilateration Network
Traversing
Triangulation and Trilateration are difficult and sometimes impossible in flat country where there are
not many hills. This is often the situation in outback areas of Australia.
With EDM this problem can be minimised by measuring the distances and angle between successive
survey control points. With a known starting position and orientation (or two known starting positions)
repeating this process through a chain of points allows the position of each point to be calculated.
However, in a traverse, if a mistake is made, it may not be obvious, so these traverses generally close
back onto their starting point to form a loop, or finish on another known position. The difference
between the known finishing position and the calculated position for this point is the misclose and
indicates the accuracy of the traverse measurements and calculations.
Traverse Network
THEIR COMBINATION
For small projects traversing is often used with ‘Total Station’ equipment. Variations on triangulation
and trilateration are also often used on small surveys, particularly to measure to inaccessible points.
As hard as it is, triangulation is likely to catch up to trilateration over time, and ultimately, the two will
likely be used in tandem for many applications for added accuracy and redundancy. As mentioned,
trilateration taps out at ~1-2m accuracy, but triangulation shows promise of reaching accuracies of ~0.5m.
Their combined power holds potential for even higher accuracy applications, specifically when higher
costs aren't an issue.
*WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY INTERSECTION BY
ANGLE AND BEARING
INTERSECTION BY ANGLE AND BEARING
Intersection by angle and bearing is a method of finding the coordinate of a point by measuring
directions, angles, bearings or distances to it from two or more known points (existing control stations).
It has many uses apart from co-ordinating new control points, e.g. curve ranging and surveying detail in
inaccessible positions including that high up on building such as church spires, flag poles and radio
aerials.
Bearing of a line is the angle measured from either the north or south end of a reference meridian. The
angle is observed from north or south towards the east or west, to give a reading less than 90°. Bearing is
represented by the letter N or S preceding the angle. The E or W succeeding it demonstrates the
appropriate quadrant.
A properly expressed bearing contains quadrant letters and an angular value. Since bearing is with
reference to N-S line angles, they are measured clockwise in the 1st and 3rd (NE and SW) quadrants and
it is measured anticlockwise in 2nd and 4th quadrants (NW and SE). This is also known as quadrant
bearing.
When bearings are measured with reference to true meridian it is called as true bearing. If the bearing is
from magnetic meridian, it is magnetic bearing and when from a grid it is grid bearing.
*DISCUSS LINEAR ANGULAR INTERSECTION, RESECTION AND THEIR
DERIVATION
LINEAR ANGULAR INTERSECTION
is a method of locating a control point without occupying it. On constructionsites, predominate marks
around the site, such as tall buildings and other clearlydefined features may be used as control points
during construction. It is obviouslynot possible to set up an instrument at these but it is possible to
obtain theircoordinates by using intersection.Since they are usually in elevated positions they can be
seen when the lines ofsight to other control points at ground level become obscured as
constructionproceeds.
A and B are points in a control network with known coordinates (EA , NA) and (EB ,NB). To coordinate
unknown point P which lies at the intersection of the lines fromA and B, a total station or theodolite is
set up at A and B and the horizontal anglesα and β are observed. The coordinates of P can be calculated
by a number ofdifferent methods.Intersection by solution of triangleIn triangle ABP, the length and
bearing of the base line AB are obtained from theircoordinates and are given rectangular – polar
conversions as
These distances and bearings are used to calculate the coordinates of P along APusing polar –
rectangular conversion as:Intersection using the observed anglesIf one takes a clockwise lettering
sequence, the coordinates of P can be obtaineddirectly fromA disadvantage of this method compared
with solving the triangle is that there is nocheck on the calculations.
Intersection from two baselinesWhen solving intersections using the previous formulae, it is not possible
to checkthe fieldwork because a unique solution is obtained for the position of point P. themethod that
should be used to detect errors in the observed angels and henceerrors in the coordinates of P is to
observe the intersection from the least twobaselines and to determine the coordinates of the
intersected point by solving twoor more separate triangles.ExampleThe coordinates of three control
points S, A and L are:mE mNS 1309.652 1170.503A 1395.454 1078.806L 1268.855 1028.419
You are also given the angles ASB, BAS, LAB and BLAUsing the data provided, the layout of the stations
and the observed angles givenabove.For triangle SAB, the clockwise sequence SAB is equivalent to ABP
in the lastexample.The coordinates for B are estimated by
Since the two sets of results for EB and NB differ by 0.015m and 0.009mrespectively no gross error has
occurred in the observations and the finalcoordinates are mean values from the two sets, henceEB =
1180.154m and NB = 1145.947m
ResectionThis is a method of locating a new control point by taking observations from it toother known
control points on a network. Two types of resection can be carried out,angular resection where
horizontal angles are measured and distance resection inwhich horizontal distances are measured. Both
types are useful for coordinating temporary control points on site which are called free station points.
ANGULAR RESECTION
are used to coordinate a point by taking observations from it to existingcontrol points – an advantage of
this method is that a resection can be done without occupying any of the control points to which the
observations are taken.
REFERENCE:
Biemer, Paul P. and Lyberg, Lars E. Introduction to Survey Quality. Chichester, England: Wiley,
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Fowler, Floyd J., Jr. Survey Research Methods (2nd.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993.
Groves, Robert M., F J Fowler, Mick P. Couper, James M. Lepkowski, Eleanor Singer, and R
Tourangeau. Survey Methodology. New York, NY: Wiley. 2004.
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