Party Chief
For as long as there have been land surveyors, there has always been a debate regarding "old school" and "new school" methods and which are better or worse than others.  Are there any "old school" methods that you use in the field that you feel will never die?  If so, what are they and why do they work so well...?

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  • Party Chief

    thanks for helping me ressurect some of these archived posts Matt...i've been trying to get around to constructing a 'Best of' post and some of these that you are finding are truly amazing blasts from the past...

  • A lock level and a 6' rule for checking grade. 

  • There are very few I use today unless you're talking construction. For Land Surveying, its technology all the way for me. The knowledge is old school, but the method of achieving the final result is much faster by utilizing the technology that's there. If anything, I use old school calculations or "know how" to check the technology. Redundancy is key.

    For construction, I would use modern technology to set up horizontal control, depending on the size of project. If its small, I would use a total station and wrap angles and shoot multiple distances and close all traverse and use a 3-wire level loop. For larger jobs I would use GPS to do both horizontal and vertical with a static network and check everything by going out and reshooting all control with the rover to determine possible errors and then fix any I find conventionally by tying it back to good control that worked.

    When laying something out on either large or small, I would stake out 2 points of a common baseline that whatever is being built and then set up on that line and check into something else. From there it is usually as simple as setting POLs and turning 90's and measuring with a chain (yes, I said it, I still use a chain and plumb bob for construction).

    I came into surveying at a good time, when everything was done old school and not too long before technology took over and everything became automated. It was harder and slower, but had consistent and guaranteed results, so the methods should never be discounted. Only that they should be used when common sense dictates.
    • Party Chief
      this sort of answer is EXACTLY what i was going for...awesome response Chris...
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