DEPARTMENT OF GEODETIC

ENGINEERING
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte,
PHILIPPINES
Telephone: (053) 565-0600 local
1027

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

ESci 121 – Fundamentals of Surveying

Exercise No. 6: Profile Leveling

I. Introduction

Establishing road networks is an important utility/infrastructure that offers access

to different places. In road networks, one essential criterion would be the data on
elevation in creating a suitable and appropriate design. In determining the elevations of
points, especially for a proposed roadway, a leveling operation is necessary. Such a
technique is commonly known as profile leveling. In a general sense, profile leveling
determines the elevations of ground points along the centerline of a road or a proposed
roadway with designated short measured intervals (La Putt, 1987). The technique
determines the configuration of the ground surface (Ghilani and Wolf), and is considered
an extension of differential leveling in which possible linear engineering work is to be
carried out (Reference, 2020). Such engineering works include but are not limited to
establishing sewer or transmission lines and curves for canals and railroads. The main
difference would be that differential leveling requires only one foresight reading on a
station. In contrast, in profile leveling, many foresights can be taken, referred to as the
intermediate foresights (IFS).

II. Learning Outcomes

1. To demonstrate the process of profile leveling;
2. To determine the elevations of ground points along the centerline of a proposed
roadway; and
3. To plot the profile of the centerline along a proposed roadway.

III. Materials
Theodolite/transit or automatic level, measuring tape, stadia rod/leveling rods, pegs/hubs
or crayon markers or chalks.

IV. Procedure
1. Select an area where a roadway will be proposed. Measure a total length of 500.00
meters using the measuring tape and mark the beginning and endpoints with
hubs/pegs or marking chalk/crayons. 
2. Decide for the centerline of the proposed roadway and establish stakes for every full
station with an interval of 100.00 meters. Correspondingly, the stationing is reflected
based on the full station intervals such as 0+00 at the beginning of the road, 1+00,
2+00, and 5+00 at the terminal point of the proposed road.  
3. Establish stakes for all plus stations having a regular interval of 20.00 meters. Plus
stations are likewise established on areas having a sudden change in elevation or at
points where vital infrastructures are to be placed, such as culverts, etc. The
stationing reflects the horizontal distances of the plus stations, say 0+20, 1+20, 2+40.
4. Establish a benchmark (BM) near the station 0+00 and call it BM-1.   
5. Select a convenient location near the station 0+00 and BM-1 on one side of the
proposed roadway, and set up and level the instrument. 
6. Take a backsight reading (BS) on the rod held on BM-1 with an assumed elevation of
50.00 meters above mean sea level (MSL) to determine the height of the instrument
(HI). Record the data in the profile level notes (Table 1). 
7. Take and record intermediate foresight (IFS) to the already established full and plus-
stations as many as possible within the practical limits of the sighting. Record the
data accordingly. 
8. When further readings on the ground points cannot be observed anymore, establish a
turning point (say TP-1) to continue the leveling operation. Take a foresight reading to
the rod held in TP-1 and record the data in the profile level notes. 
9. Select a convenient area in the direction of the road going to station 5+00. Transfer
and set up the instrument, and take a backsight reading to TP-1. Continue taking rod
readings (IFS) on the ground points along the centerline. Repeat the process,
reaching the endpoint of the proposed roadway (Figure 1).  

Figure 1. Example profile leveling scheme.

10. Tabulate the observed and computed values accordingly. Refer to Table 1.

Table 1. Example profile level notes

Station BS HI IFS FS Elevation

BM-1
0+00
0+20
TP-1
0+40
5+00

11. Plot both the observed and computed data, showing the stations and their
corresponding elevations on a special paper with horizontal and vertical lines printed
on it (graphing paper) to represent distances horizontally and vertically (Figure 2).
12. Connect the plotted points representing the elevations of the profile by a smooth
curved line drawn freehand.
 13. Label the plot of the profile accordingly. The stationings and elevations must be
indicated.

Profile of a Proposed Roadway

16.00
14.00
12.00
Elevation (meters)

10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
0+00 1+00 2+00 3+00 4+00 5+00
Stationing

Figure 1. Example profile of a roadway

Computations:

1. Computing Height of Instrument (HI) and Elevation.

In profile levelling, the following three equations are repeatedly used

a) HI =Elevation+ BS b) Elevation=HI−FS c) Elevation=HI−IFS

Where:
HI - height of instrument above a reference datum
BS - backsight reading on the rod (or plus sight)
FS - a foresight reading on the rod (or minus sight)
IFS - intermediate foresights taken on the full and plus-stations
Elevation - elevation above a reference datum of a point sighted

Guide Questions

1. How profile leveling differs from the conventional differential leveling?

Profile leveling is much easy to perform since the instrument is fixed at a

certain position and starts leveling on the designated station then move the
instrument position only when the readings are not visible also it has a mesured
distance interval while the conventional differential leveling moves the instrument
from time to time which requires to compute for the backsight and turning point
everytime the instrument is move from another location.

2. Based on the results, what is your recommendation for the proposed roadway with
reference to the elevations computed?

Overall the elevations gathered from each stations has only a slim
differences which would also determines steepness and the need to excavate and fill
 following a reference line this would mean that the path along the certain road has
only a minimal uphill and downhill.

V. Results and Discussion

Methods and processes for measuring the elevation at various sites on the
ground, on or within buildings. Sighting through a leveling instrument at a leveling staff or
rod held vertically and in an ordered succession from one place to another is the most
common method of leveling. The procedure of measuring the heights of a set of locations
(or the difference in elevation between points) at defined intervals along a line such as the
center line is known as profile levelling.

Table 1. Profile level notes

Station BS HI IFS FS Elevation (m)

BM-1 1.08 51.08 50.00
0+00 0.78 50.30
0+20 0.85 50.23
0+40 0.90 50.18
0+60 0.70 50.38
0+80 1.24 49.84
1+00 1.20 49.88
1+20 1.15 49.93
TP-1 1.50 51.22 1.36 49.72
1+40 1.15 50.07
1+60 1.10 50.12
1+80 1.35 49.87
2+00 1.42 49.80
2+20 1.40 49.82
2+40 1.58 49.64
2+60 1.20 50.02
2+80 1.25 49.97
TP-2 1.43 51.47 1.18 50.04
3+00 0.73 50.74
3+20 0.75 50.72
3+40 0.96 50.51
3+60 1.12 50.35
3+80 1.15 50.32
4+00 1.10 50.37
TP-3 1.37 51.69 1.15 50.32
4+20 1.24 50.45
4+40 1.20 50.49
4+60 1.15 50.54
4+80 0.98 50.71
5+00 1.26 50.43

Using the formula in computing for the height of instrument and the elevation we can
solve the unknown in our table. As what stated above height of the instrument can be
compute by getting the sum of elevation and the backsight from our benchmark to the
instruments position and in solving for the elevation given the HI and the intermediate
foresight (IFS), we just need to get their difference. The initial sight taken on a leveling staff
held at a given height is called backsight. The surveyor can get HI using BS. The final staff
reading received from a level setup is known as the instrument's height or line of sight and
foresight. We have computed 51.08 as height of the instrument and using that calculated
value, elevation would be computed on the different stations.
 As you can see our increment value stops and proceed on the TP-1 or we called it as
the Turning Point 1, this is an indicator that the instrument was placed on another location for
the reason that the previous position cannot read the values on the next station. This also the
reason why there is no value on the backsight and instruments height on the succeeding
column because the instrument is at fixed position until the next station is not visible.
Proceeding to TP-1 given only is the Backsight and the Foresight and we need to get
the instruments height to proceed to our calculation, thus we make use of our previous HI and
the foresight value to get the difference and this would be our elevation on out TP-1 (51.08-
1.36 = 49.72) with that HI can be computed. The process goes until we reach the 5+00
station.

PROFILE OF A PROPOSED ROADWAY

We may determine or compute the volume of land that has to be excavated and filled
to match the intended route with the estimated elevation by drawing a reference line
along the graph for the planned highway.

Sample Computations:

Station BM-1 for HI

HI = Elevation + BS
HI = 50.00 + 1.08
HI = 51.08

Station 0+00 for Elevation

Elevation = HI - IFS
Elevation = 51.08 - 0.78
Elevation = 50.30
Station TP-1 for Elevation
Elevation = HI - FS
Elevation = 51.08 - 1.36
Elevation = 49.72
Station TP-1 for HI
HI = Elevation + BS
HI = 49.72 + 1.50
 HI = 51.22

SKETCH OF PROFILE LEVELING (TOP VIEW)

VI. Conclusion and Recommendations

Benchmark serves as our known point or the reference point throughout the survey
process and the construction phase if the proposed project will proceed thus it must not
destroy and would remain easy to spot. It is a must also that we do foresight first before
moving our instrument to another position and backsight once the instruments position is
identified and mounted. Position the instrument to a place where it can read more station to
avoid moving from one place to another and with regards on reading the values, must be
extra careful to avoid or minimize error.

VII. References

Ghilani, C.D., and Wolf, P.R. (2012). Elementary Surveying: An Introduction to

Geomatics. Thirteenth Edition. Pearson. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-255434-3.

La Putt, J.P. (1985). Elementary Surveying Lab Manual. Baguio Research and Publishing
Center. Baguio City, Philippines.

La Putt, J.P. (2008). Elementary Surveying. 3 rd Edition. National Book Store. Philippines.
Reprint. ISBN 971-08-5581-6.

Reference (2020). What is profile leveling? https://www.reference.com/world-view/profile-

leveling-5456316f2d51934f. Accessed on 10 March 2021.

Schofield, W. and Breach, M. (2007). Engineering Surveying. 6 th Edition. Elsevier Ltd.

ISBN–13: 978-0-7506-6949-8.