Land Surveying Video Guides

Learn More about Total Stations

Almost every land surveyor in the modern world will at some point use a Total Station instrument in their daily surveying work.  However, if you ask a land surveyor about the history of the Total Station, very few can tell you.   In fact, you may be surprised to know how recent the advent of Total Station happened.

Early History of Total Stations

The total station was introduced in 1968 by Zeiss Instruments and was named the Elta 46 and for the first time distance and angle measurements could be recorded by one instrument. The total station is a transit integrated with an EDM, electronic distance meter, which can read slope distances from the instrument to a particular point of land. This combination gives the surveyor the capability of retrieving data related to the coordinates of the reflector in the device.

A total station (TS) is also known as a total station theodolite (TST)which is an electronic/optical instrument used for surveying and building construction. It is an electronic transit theodolite integrated with electronic distance measurement (EDM) to measure both vertical and horizontal angles and the slope distance from the instrument to a particular point, and an on-board computer to collect data and perform triangulation calculations. Over time, the Total Station has evolved into a more robotic instrument used by land surveyors and with this evolution has come greater productivity. Robotic or motorized total stations allow the operator to control the instrument from a distance via remote control. This eliminates the need for an assistant staff member as the operator holds the retroreflector and controls the total station from the observed point. These motorized total stations can also be used in automated setups knows as Automated Motorized Total Station (AMTS).