DIFFERENTIAL LEVELING & PROFILE LEVELING - It is important that all data gathered in

differential leveling work be properly recorded

in a special field notebook ruled with suitable
DIFFERENTIAL LEVELING lines.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Bench Mark (BM) – is a fixed point of reference
whose elevation is either known or assumed. They
may be permanent or temporary.

2. Backsight (BS) – is a reading taken on a rod

held on a point of known or assumed elevation.
It is measure of the vertical distance from the
established line of sight to the point sighted
and is always the first rod reading taken after
the instrument has been set up and leveled.

3. Foresight (FS) – A reading taken on a rod held

on a point whose elevation is to be determined
CHECKING LEVEL NOTES
is called a foresight. It is represented as
vertical distance from the line of sight of the - The calculations in different leveling work are
instrument to the point observed. limited only to determining work are limited
only to determining heights of instrument and
4. Backsight Distance (BSD) – The backsight the elevation of stations or points.
distance is measured from the center of the
instrument to the rod on which a backsight is STEPS:
taken .  The backsight reading is added to the elevation
 The foresight reading is subtracted from the
5. Foresight Distance (FSD) – The horizontal
height of instrument to determine the elevation
distance from the center of the instrument to
of the point foresighted.
the rod on which a foresight is taken is
referred to as the foresight distance. Its
- The difference between the sums should equal the
length is usually made nearly equal to its
difference in elevation between the first and
corresponding backsight distance.
last stations unless a mistake is made in
arithmetic.
6. Turning Point (TP) – is an intervening point
between two bench marks upon which point ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS
foresight and backsight rod readings are taken
to enable a leveling operation to continue from 1. From the given data of a differential leveling as
a new instrument position. shown in the tabulation:

7. Height of Instrument (HI) – the height of

instrument is the elevation of the line of sight
of an instrument above or below a selected
reference datum. It is determined by adding the
rod reading on the backsight to the elevation
of the point on which the sight is taken .

a. Find the diff. in elevation of station 7 and

PROCEDURE OF DIFFERENT LEVELING
station 5
b. Find the diff. in elevation of station 7 and
station 4.
c. Find the elevation of station 3.
SOLUTION :

1. Establish your points by starting at benchmark

1.
2. Establish the next point.
3. Once the point establish , set up the instrument
between the BM1 and point 2.
4. The distance from the instrument to the rod
should be roughly equidistant to lessen the
error
5. Read the backsight and the foresight.
6. Once you're finished recording the backside and a. Difference in Elev. Station 7 & Station 5.
the foresight to the new station and so on. = 400.78 – 390.69 = 10.09 m
b. Difference in Elev. Station 7 & Station 4
LEVELING NOTES = 400.78 – 389.01 = 11. 77 m
c. Elevation od Station 3
 = 392. 61 m

By plotting the elevations of the different - The procedure in profile leveling is different
stations, you will have a projection of the compared to differential leveling in profile, you
actual elevation of the surveyed land. need to establish the points starting with the
benchmarks. Next are the different stations. In this
case every station is measured 10 meters apart .
- Once all the stations or points are established
you can now set up the instrument outside. It is a
deal that you place the instrument in a location
where you can cite multiple stations unlike in
differential leveling, you're required to set up the
instrument in between two points only.
PROBLEM 2 - Thus, we can say that profile leveling is more
convenient to use than differential leveling method.
In the case where the points cannot be read anymore
due to obstruction you are then required to move the
instrument to a different location and measure the
rest of the points.
- Last, broad reading first setup is what we call
turning point one and just do the same process until
you read all the points.

ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS
2. From the given profile leveling notes:
a. What is the difference in elevation between
station 5 and 2
b. Compute the elevation of TP2
c. Compute the elevation of BM2

PROFILE LEVELING
What is Profile Leveling?
- Is a method of surveying that ha been
carried out along the central lone of a
track of land on which a linear engineering
work is to be constructed/ laid. The
operations involved in determining the
elevation of ground surface at small spatial
interval along a line is called profile
leveling.
STATIONS
- The line along which the profile is to be
run to be marked on the ground before taking
any observation. Stakes are usually set at
some regular interval which depends on the
topography, accuracy required, nature of
work, scale of plotting etc. It is usually
taken to be 20 meters. The beginning station
of profile leveling is termed as 0+000.
Points at multiples of 1000m from this point
are termed as full stations. Intermediate
points are designated as pluses.
SOLUTIONS:
 ILLUSTRATIVE PROBELEM
1. A reciprocal leveling is observed across a
wide river and the reciprocal level readings
were taken between points A and B as
follows. With instrument set up near A, the
rod readings on A are 2.283 m and 2.285 m.
The reciprocal level readings on the
opposite side of the river at point B are
3.617, 3.619, 3.621 and 3.622 m. With the
instruments set up near B the rod readings
a. Difference in Elev. Station 5 & Station 2.
on B are 4.478 m and 4.476 m , and the rod
= 225.84 – 224.15 = 1.69 m readings on the opposite side of the river
b. Elevation of TP2 at point A, the rod readings are 3.143,
= 227.66 m 3.140, 3.146 and 3.144.
c. Elevation of BM2
a. Compute the difference in elevation between
= 224. 88 m
A and B with the instrument set up near A.
b. What is the true difference in elevation
DOUBLE – RODDED LEVELING between A and B
c. If the elevation A is 300 k , what is the
elevation of B?
ILLUSTRARTIVE PROBLEMS
SOLUTION

RISE AND FALL METHOD

RECIPROCAL LEVELING

- Each reading is subtracted from the previous

reading .
- The rise/fall is then added to the previous
reduced height to calculate the following
reduced height.
 49, 873 – 48, 704 = 1, 169
Final Correction / Number of Stations = 1, 169 / 3
= 0.390 (Three Back Sights)
- First Setup : ( 1, 169 / 3 ) x 1 (Station
No.)
= 0.390
- Second Setup : ( 1, 169 / 3 ) x 2 (Station
No.)
= 0.779
- Third Setup : ( 1, 169 / 3 ) x 3 (Station b.
No.)
= 1,169

TWO PEG TEST METHOD

 Method for checking and recalibrating a

level or transit.
 The two-peg test is very simple but provides
a way to test the accuracy of a level, and
if you know which screw to turn ( for analog
instruments ) or menu to follow ( for a
digital level ), you can adjust it to remove
the error.
 All instruments are subject to errors. The c.
checking of the instrument (level) is
therefore important.
 The man error is where the line of sight is
not parallel to the horizontal line of
collimation. In this case, your levels will
not be correct.
 A test for checking the level is known as
the two-peg test. This test determines the
amounts of error and if an error occurs
notify the technician ( the level must be
serviced).
ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEM
PEG METHOD OF ADJUSTMENT OF DUMPY OR WYE LEVEL
1. In the two-peg test of a dumpy level, the
following observations were taken.
Instrument @ Instrument @
ROD READING
A B
AT A 1.203 0.324
AT B 2.523 1.445

a. Find the difference in elevation between A &

B
b. What is the error in the line of sight from
A to B?
c. With instrument at A, what should be the rod
reading at B to make line of sight level?
a.