Starting a Traverse

• Press [Enter] at the first blank line in the Traverses Manager.
• Enter the name for the first traverse in the Traverse dialog.
• Select the Format you want for this traverse. Your selection here will automatically format the Traverse View for you.
• Select the Traverse Settings you want for this traverse.
• Choose OK to open the Traverse View for the new traverse.

Now you are ready to enter data for the new traverse, but how do you get started?

Starting with an Occupied Point

A new traverse always starts with an occupied point (OP). The next available point number greater than 0 is used to label the OP.

The information you enter at the start of a traverse depends on the type of survey you are doing and the information you have, but you will typically either recall an existing point or enter the starting coordinates.

Starting with an occupied point that already exists in the current survey

• Move the cursor to the Point column.
• Type the point label of the point you want to recall and press [Enter]. This brings up the existing point dialog. The ‘Recall the existing point and its coordinates’ option is checked.
• Press [Enter] again to recall the point.

The coordinates and description of the recalled point will be displayed in the Traverse View.

Starting with an occupied point that doesn’t already exist in the survey

• Press the right arrow key to move the cursor to one of the coordinate fields (Northing, Easting, Elevation). If they are not displayed, you may need to scroll to the right. Choose View | Format View (or press [F9]) and add the letters YXZ (Y=Northing, X=Easting, Z=Elevation) to the Display Sequence and then choose OK.
  
• For each coordinate value, type the number and press [Enter].

Starting with assumed coordinates

If you don’t know the coordinates of the occupied point, don’t enter any. TPC will assume coordinates of zero. Later, when you find out the coordinates, just enter them and choose Tools | Recompute. TPC will update the position of all the dependent points in the traverse.

Starting With a Known Occupied Point and Backsight

This is probably the most common way to start a traverse. You’ll use this method if you:

• Import control points from another file and use these points to start a traverse.
• Add a new traverse to the current survey and recall two existing survey points as the occupied point and backsight.
• Start with published coordinates for the occupied point and backsight.

Enter the occupied point and backsight information

• Highlight the first point in the traverse. If you just started a new traverse, the first point is highlighted for you.
• Enter the coordinates for the occupied point or recall an existing point.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key until you advance to the next traverse point (the backsight).
• Enter the coordinates for the backsight point or recall an existing point.

Starting With a Known Occupied Point and a Reference Azimuth

Sometimes, you know the coordinates of the point you are occupying, but not the backsight point. In this case, you can enter a reference azimuth or bearing (the azimuth or bearing from the occupied point to the backsight). TPC will use the reference azimuth to orient the traverse.

If you don’t know the correct reference azimuth, you can enter an assumed azimuth. Later, when you find out the correct azimuth, enter it and choose Tools | Recompute. TPC will update the position of all the dependent traverse points based on the new reference azimuth.

Enter the occupied point and backsight information

• Enter the coordinates for the occupied point or recall an existing point.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the next point, the backsight.
• Move the cursor to the bearing or azimuth field and enter the reference bearing or azimuth. You do not need to enter a distance to the backsight.
• If the bearing or azimuth field is not displayed in the screen, you may need to scroll to the right, or press [F9] (or choose View | Format View) and add the letters “A” or “B” to the display sequence (A=North Azimuth, B=Bearing).

Note: If you enter both coordinates and a reference azimuth for the backsight, the coordinates will take precedence over the reference azimuth.

Starting at an Assumed Position

You may find yourself in the situation where you have field data for a traverse, but do not yet know the correct coordinates for the starting point or the correct orientation of the traverse.

With TPC, you can enter the traverse using assumed coordinates for the occupied point and backsight or assumed reference azimuth, compute the traverse points as you go and even check your closures in the case of a closed loop traverse. Later, when you have better information, you can enter the correct coordinates or reference azimuth and recompute the traverse by choosing Tools | Recompute. The result will be the same as if you had started with the correct information.

If you tie known points, either as side shots or traverse points, you can translate and rotate the traverse to the known points in order to properly orient it.

Starting with a Resection

This feature is not included in the Property Edition.

TPC can also start a traverse with a two-point resection. You must measure the angle and distance to both resection points. If you have either the Premium or Professional editions, TPC can also create a resection from any number or points using a Least Squares Resection.

You can include the backsight as one of the resection points. The resection points must be inserted following the backsight point and must be clockwise from it.

If you measure the distance to the backsight, you can use the backsight as one of the resection points.

• Choose Edit | Append Resection. TPC will append an occupied point; backsight point and resection point to the traverse and move you to the new occupied point. Enter any description you want for the occupied point.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the backsight point.
• Enter the horizontal circle reading for the backsight (optional).
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the resection point.
• Enter the measurement to the resection point.
• Choose Tools | Recompute to compute the position of the occupied point based on the resection.

Using Separate points for backsight and the resection

This feature is not included in the Property Edition.

At times, you will choose not to use the backsight for resection. It may be too far away, it may be a backsight you don’t typically measure, or you may have two resection points that are better than the backsight because they are closer. Whatever the reason, you can choose to use the backsight for just a backsight and two other resection points for the resection.

Using two separate resection points

This feature is not included in the Property Edition.

• Choose Edit | Append Resection. TPC will append an occupied point; backsight point and resection point to the traverse and move you to the new occupied point. Enter any description you want for the occupied point.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the backsight point.
• Sight the backsight and zero the horizontal circle.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the resection point.
• Enter the measurement to the first resection point.
• Press [Enter] or the down arrow key to move to the next point.
• If the point type is not RS, choose Type | RS=Resection.
• Enter the measurement to the second resection point.
• Choose Tools | Recompute to compute the position of the occupied point based on the resection.

Editions

Personal, Premium, Professional

Related Topics

Least Squares Resection
Traverse View
Entering Data
Copying Traverses
Duplicating Traverses
Moving Traverses