Total Station | Land survey | Surveyor

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Marking or positioning of structural elements is one of the important tasks in construction. Without proper positioning, you can't able to complete the building properly. Various methods and tools were created over some time but Total Station has a special edge over other measuring instruments because of its precision and easy-to-use ability.

What is Total Station

   A total Station is an electronic instrument used in modern surveying and building construction with that uses an electronic transit theodolite in conjunction with an Electronic Distance Meter (EDM). It is also integrated with microprocessors, electronic data collectors, and Storage Systems.

  The instrument is used to measure the sloping distance of objects along with the horizontal and vertical angles. The GPS coordinates of the places can also be marked with the help of the Total station along with the proper horizontal distance from a point of reference.

Uses of Total Station

   Total Stations were mainly used by the land surveyor and civil engineers to record the land with topography and for finding and creating boundaries of land or buildings. In Construction, they were used for the exact position of the footings and columns of the project land. They are also used for column positioning on further floors. They are also used by archeologists to record the land of excavation. It is also used by police to record the crime scenes.

What you can do with Total Station

1. Distance Measurement
2. Angle Measurement
3. Data Processing
4. Display
5. Electronic Book

Distance Measurement

   Electronic Distance Measuring (EDM) is also a major part of the total station. Its range varies from 2.4 km to 2.8 km. The distance is always measured in sloping distance to eradicate the curvature created by the geoid shape of the earth. If the distance is measured for a long distance. Accuracy varies from 5 to 10mm per kilometer.

Angle Measurement

   The electronic theodolite of the total station is used for the angle measurement. Both the Horizontal and Vertical angles can be taken with the help of the help of the total station. The accuracy will be of 2 to 6 seconds. 

Data Processing

   Total Stations were provided with a built micro processer which was capable of computation of averages and could do temperature and atmospheric pressure correction the temperature and atmospheric pressure data were given.

Display

   Total Stations have a built-in display so you can easily able to see the values without the help of the computer. You can able to see Horizontal and vertical distances and angles and also the coordinates.

Electronic Book

  It has an Electronic book which is capable of storing 2000 to 4000 points. Once the book is full or in the middle way, the data can be transferred to a computer. Once transferred the electronic notebook can be reused.

Advantages of Total Station

   The Following were the advantages of Total station over conventional surveying instruments,

1. Fast
2. Accurate
3. Manual Error elimination
4. Automated Correction
5. Easy to scale 

Fast

   The Fieldwork can be done relatively at a faster pace than another conventional instrument.

Accurate

   The Accuracy level is far higher than that of other instruments

Manual Error Elimination

   Since the Values were automatically generated in the Total station manual recordings were eliminated which is possible if the readings were recorded with pen and paper where error is possible because of miscommunication.

Automated Correction

   The Temperature and atmospheric pressure corrections can be easily and automatically rectified in Total station which is of great help for surveyors.

Easy to scale 

   The Scale can be easily changed according to the requirement within an instant and readings change accordingly.

  Even with all these advantages the Total station and its working condition needs to be properly investigated before taking measurements.