What Are The Various Types Of Surveyor Equipment?

The set of instrument or equipment used by a surveyor is known as surveyor equipment. A surveyor is a professional person, who has acquired training in finding out the boundaries and elevations of various land and/or structures. A surveyor applies the concepts of engineering, physics, mathematics and law in conjunction with some instruments for surveying lands.

As surveying is related to the measurement of distance and determination of direction, to find the relevant points; the surveyor equipments can be classified similarly. There are the surveyor equipments which measure the distance or range.

Tapes are most commonly used surveying equipments. The surveyor's tapes are made from steel ribbon and generally can measure a distance of up to 100m. These tapes are frequently bended and twisted during the use. Hence, these are broken very fast. In order to avoid this problem, synthetic yarns were used in their manufacturing. But, these tapes also have the disadvantage of giving erroneous readings due to the effect of temperature and moisture. Nowadays plastic and fiber glass material are being used to make these tapes. But, still all the tapes must be handled carefully.

Next is stadia, which is a measuring rod held in a vertical position at the place whose distance is to be found. An optical instrument is used to sight this rod and the distance is found out by the readings obtained on the stadia rod. Next in line is the EDM (Electronic Distance Measuring). An EDM equipment works on the principle of reflection. A reflector is kept at a distant place and then the reflection of electromagnetic radiations from it is measured. This measurement provides the distance between two points. This equipment has become one of the favorite one of surveyors.

While measuring direction, the equipments used by surveyors are compass, alidade, transit, and many more. A compass is used by the surveyor to determine the horizontal direction. This helps in easy and correct navigation on the land, air and water. The array of compasses is huge and it includes orienteering compass, pocket or needle compass, marine compass and so on. An alidade comprise of telescope which is mounted on a column and can be rotated in all directions. Its main use is in leveling & surveying.

So, various types of surveyor equipments are available in the market. But while you out to buy one, go for the surveyor equipment that is customized to your needs.