Land Surveyors Almanac

A site planning survey is a type of land surveying required by local governing jurisdictions for building permit applications. It is used to plan developments and propose improvements of a site before construction starts. More specifically, a site planning survey is often done for designing commercial sites, industrial sites, residential areas, and road infrastructure.

Site planning surveys typically make use of elements of both topographic and boundary surveys. They involve topography, grading,

When a land surveyor locates and establishes points between two survey stations, that act is called ranging. There are two conventional methods of ranging: the direct method and the indirect method.

Direct Ranging Method

This is applicable to situations where the ends of the survey stations are inter-visible. Meaning, you can see point X from point Y and vice versa. 

Indirect Ranging Method

This one is for survey stations that aren’t inter-visible. Ranging rods are set up between the two points or s