Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Total stations are expensive. A robotic instrument might cost $30,000 or more.
Some surveyors have a rule that the transit person is never to leave the instru-
ment unattended, particularly if it is in a populated area where it could be sto-
len or tipped over. Often, crew members are out looking for evidence or trimming
brush which leaves the transit person with nothing to do but wait at the instrument.
Under such circumstances it is prudent that the transit person not sit or lay on the
ground while waiting. No client wants to arrive home and find a crew member
lying on her lawn while she is paying the crew a couple of hundred dollars per
hour. This advice is applicable to all crew members.
The survey vehicle should be kept reasonably clean and tidy. Clients are not
favorably impressed when a crew member opens the vehicle door to exit and a
couple of empty soda cans (or worse) roll out onto the sidewalk. Surveying is a
precise profession. An untidy truck is a sign of sloppy habits. Many surveyors
assign one of the crew members, sometimes the newest person on the crew, as
the equipment- person. This person is responsible for ensuring that, at the end of
the day, none of the equipment has been left on a job site, that the equipment is
in good repair and that damaged or lost equipment is noted for replacement. The
person might also be responsible for keeping the truck clean and serviced. It is
embarrassing to return to a job site to find that a tripod and prism are still set up
over a traverse point—left there from the previous day. It is more embarrassing
to have to explain to the company owner that the tripod and prism were left at the
site, but the equipment is no longer there.
It is embarrassing to return to a job site to find that a tripod and prism are
still set up over a traverse point—left there from the previous day.
It has already been noted that total stations, particularly servo driven and robotic
total stations are very expensive and can cost upwards of $30,000. These instru-
ments are also very delicate and they should be handled with great care. We
learned that the instrument should be removed from the tripod when setting up
and only placed in the tribrach after the setup is complete. We live in a world so
replete with technology that it is easy to take for granted the cost and value of
equipment. Nevertheless, surveying equipment is expensive and it should always
be handled with care. The fact that survey crews often work under difficult envi-
ronmental conditions makes it even more imperative that equipment be handled
carefully. When setting up a tripod, there is no need to kick one of the legs away
when it could just as easily be moved by less forceful means. There is no need to
throw the instrument case on the ground, when it could be just as easily placed
on the ground. Prisms poles and prisms should be kept in accessible containers in
the survey vehicle, not thrown in the back of the truck along with the shovel and
iron bar. If the survey crew exhibits care in the handling of equipment, this care
is likely to transfer to the level of care necessary to make precise measurements.
Careless habits are likely to result in careless work.
