Survey Technical Articles
Method, tolerances and verification — and the limits of each technique, stated plainly.
Underground Survey Control: Carrying It Through the Workings
Underground survey control is carried forward by traverse from the shaft connection. Why it must be tied back to known points at intervals, not trusted forever.
Stockpile Volume Measurement: Keep Repeat Surveys Comparable
When a monthly stockpile figure jumps, check the measurement before the material. Four things to hold constant so repeat stockpile surveys can be compared.
Stockpile Reconciliation: When Survey and Records Disagree
A stockpile reconciliation procedure in a fixed order: dates, extent, base surface, density, then movements. So the survey is checked last, not first.
Opencast Survey Handover: What the Planning Team Needs
An opencast survey handover must state its date, extent, reference frame and control. A checklist so the planning team can use it first time.
Open Pit Bench Survey: Working Around Blasting and Loading
An open pit bench survey needs the crew near ground that blasting and equipment also use. How to plan it without holding up production or adding risk.
Underground Mine Coordinates: Old Records and New Surveys
Underground mine coordinates from an old local grid and a current network should not be mixed without a checked transformation, even when they seem to agree.
Survey Data Ownership: Agree It Before the Survey Starts
Survey data ownership decides whether you can reuse a point cloud on the next project. The terms to settle before the survey starts, not at handover.
Survey Acceptance Criteria: What the Appointment Must Say
Survey acceptance criteria decide whether a poor delivery is refused or argued about. Seven clauses to write into the appointment before work starts.
Shaft Survey Control: From Surface to Underground
Shaft survey control needs two separate transfers: one for direction and one for position and level. Why a correct one does not confirm the other.
Shaft Equipping Survey: Agree the Interfaces Early
A shaft equipping survey sets the references every trade builds from. What to agree with the equipping contractor before fabrication starts, not after.
Underground Survey Planning Around Access Windows
Underground survey planning splits the work into what must happen at the face inside the access window and what can be done outside it. A procedure.
Survey Audit: When to Commission One
A survey audit examines the survey work as a whole. A check survey tests one result. Six common situations, and which of the two each one calls for.
Raise Boring: Where Survey Verification Fits
Survey verification sits at three fixed points in a raise boring programme: before setup, before reaming and at breakthrough. Why none of them can move later.
Gyro Survey: What It Establishes and What It Leaves Open
A gyro survey fixes direction from the earth's rotation. It does not fix position, level or plumb. What the result settles, and what still needs measuring.
Choosing a Survey Company: Ten Questions to Ask First
Every survey company says it is accurate and experienced. Ten questions that separate them, with the answer that should worry you printed beside each one.
Topographical Survey Deliverables: Brief Backwards From the Design
Topographical survey deliverables should be chosen from the design task. What the designer will do decides the extent, detail, surfaces and file format.
Survey Handover Checklist: The Evidence That Should Arrive With the Drawings
A survey handover checklist of the four items that show a survey was checked: control listing, check observations, instrument records and exclusions.
Setting Out Survey: What Must Be Ready Before the Surveyor Arrives
A setting out survey stalls when the site is not ready. Seven things the contractor must have in place on the day, and the delay each one prevents.
Underground Survey Brief: What It Needs That a Surface Brief Does Not
An underground survey brief has to settle access, services clearance, control ownership and the handback after each advance. Six items a surface brief misses.
Drone Survey Deliverables: A Checklist for the Day the Files Arrive
A folder of drone survey deliverables is hard to judge on sight. Eight files to check for on the day it arrives, and what each one is for.
Topographical Survey Cost: What Changes the Quote
Topographical survey cost is driven by extent, vegetation, slope and access, detail density and services. Which of those you control, and which you do not.
How to Compare Survey Quotations With Different Scopes
Survey quotation requirements differ between providers, so the cheapest quote is often the narrowest. A comparison table that exposes the difference.
Drone Survey Cost: What a Defensible Quote Needs to Contain
Drone survey cost is built from area, required output, ground control, access and permissions. What to send providers so the quotes you get back compare.
A Construction Survey Brief That Prevents Return Visits
Most repeat survey visits trace back to a construction survey brief that left something open. Eight items, and the return visit each one prevents.
Survey Volume and Tonnage: Why the Two Figures Disagree
Survey volume and tonnage measure different things. Knowing where the difference comes from is what settles most stockpile reconciliation disputes.