Formulas That Work

Large paved areas like shopping malls and Walmart parking lots are a surveyor's night mare in terms of fine sub-grading and ABC blue tops. After the rough grading process and catch basins and curbs on islands have been installed, the fine grading of the sub-base and ABC are a calculation-time consuming process. There is no need for it to be. The trick of this calculation formula is there isn't any calc's necessary---REALLY! This is a method I have used for 15 years even though my LS boss once said in shock "You can't do that"----so much for the dumb boss! Here is how it works. Once you understand it you will see it can be used to stake curbs and pipe lines also. There are a lot of tricks you will learn about it also once you start using it. I'm going to give you a simple example of use: Let's say we want to blue top ABC from a drop inlet drain over to a curb line 60 feet away. Take your self leveling level and set it up on the near edge of the drop inlet to the line you intend to stake. Align two of the leveling screws 90 degrees to the line your staking. Level the instrument. Let's assume the paving thickness is 6 inches and curb height is 6 inches. Take your LINKER ROD and unlock the tape. Set the rod next to your level eye end and set the RED X 5 tenths (6 inches paving thickness) above it. Lock the LINKER ROD tape. Now have your rodman take the LINKER over to the curb and set the rod on top of the curb. Focus on the rod and look for the RED X. Move ONLY the leveling screw (the third screw) on the stake line. Notice each time you move it up towards the RED X it will relevel. After a time it will "STICK"and you continue to screw it upwards until the cross hair is on 1 foot below the RED X (6 inches of curb and 6 inches paving). You have successfully raised the blue top grade line to "EYE" level. Now have the rodman walk on the line towards the insturment stopping wherever you want a blue top stake. Look for the red x noting how much your rod reading is above or below it. That is your cut or fill or how much you need to move the stake up or down to bring it to grade. Put as many stakes in as you want---no calculations. Move to another location and do it all over again. You will grade a very crazy paving surface with little or no effort. Have fun. Don Best.

Thoughts

YASIN MALIK January 16, 2012 at 2:58am

horizontal curve calculation sheet

Dear friend find attach horizontal curve calculation use full sheet.

http://api.ning.com:80/files/8Jec8Mn3oddnEZbM0c1T1rW0W48znI0TGC%2AG5Cqnt40KgyjsGMkghabsSRyaR6ReUiqS…
Party Chief

Jaybird April 12, 2011 at 11:41pm

you are the MAN Donald..thanks for sharing this with us
Donald E Best April 11, 2011 at 11:44pm

Large paved areas like shopping malls and Walmart parking lots are a surveyor's night mare in terms of fine sub-grading and ABC blue tops. After the rough grading process and catch basins and curbs on islands have been installed, the fine grading of the sub-base and ABC are a calculation-time consuming process. There is no need for it to be. The trick of this calculation formula is there isn't any calc's necessary---REALLY! This is a method I have used for 15 years even though my LS boss once said in shock "You can't do that"----so much for the dumb boss! Here is how it works. Once you understand it you will see it can be used to stake curbs and pipe lines also. There are a lot of tricks you will learn about it also once you start using it. I'm going to give you a simple example of use: Let's say we want to blue top ABC from a drop inlet drain over to a curb line 60 feet away. Take your self leveling level and set it up on the near edge of the drop inlet to the line you intend to stake. Align two of the leveling screws 90 degrees to the line your staking. Level the instrument. Let's assume the paving thickness is 6 inches and curb height is 6 inches. Take your LINKER ROD and unlock the tape. Set the rod next to your level eye end and set the RED X 5 tenths (6 inches paving thickness) above it. Lock the LINKER ROD tape. Now have your rodman take the LINKER over to the curb and set the rod on top of the curb. Focus on the rod and look for the RED X. Move ONLY the leveling screw (the third screw) on the stake line. Notice each time you move it up towards the RED X it will relevel. After a time it will "STICK"and you continue to screw it upwards until the cross hair is on 1 foot below the RED X (6 inches of curb and 6 inches paving). You have successfully raised the blue top grade line to "EYE" level. Now have the rodman walk on the line towards the insturment stopping wherever you want a blue top stake. Look for the red x noting how much your rod reading is above or below it. That is your cut or fill or how much you need to move the stake up or down to bring it to grade. Put as many stakes in as you want---no calculations. Move to another location and do it all over again. You will grade a very crazy paving surface with little or no effort. Have fun. Don Best.
GEO Ambassador

Skip Farrow April 3, 2011 at 2:27pm

not sure what you mean by "not enough space to present" because you can upload presentations, videos, graphics etc.
Arnel M. Domag April 3, 2011 at 9:02am

@Saleem: I guess the space this venue provides is not enough to discuss how to do data reduction using Excel. In addition, it requires some graphic presentation to significanlty reduce the learning curve. Cheers..
Saleem javed ansari March 21, 2011 at 6:33am

all lsu member please tell me how can adjust the level and coordinate in excell. thank u
Arnel M. Domag March 18, 2011 at 7:51pm

Sometimes we are prompted to relate degree values to slope values in the field. Usually, our instrument only provide as degree values for vertical angles. How about if you're asked for a slope value corresponding to a given measured degree value? Just hit the tan function button in your calculator for that degree value and get the corresponding slope value.
Land Surveyor

Scott D. Warner, PLS March 17, 2011 at 10:17pm

A good base for understanding the triangle, the simplest polygon, which is, in the main, the most important to the Professional Land Surveyor, is the foundation of all other calculations.
cujoBoudreaux March 13, 2011 at 10:03am

to establish the chord...... Sin of Delta X Rad dist...... This should give you your chord but watch those significant digits, cuz if you round too early, it will be wrong.....lol..... again, hope it helps.
cujoBoudreaux March 13, 2011 at 9:51am

(DELTA ANG/ 360 DEG) x ( PIE X 2 RAD) = LENGTH OF ARC. This formula shows that the delta ang establishes the percent of a circle, and that percent is directly proportional to the length of circumference it projects.....This can be done on a cheepy calc and needs minimum info. Hope this helps someone out there.