Surveying

B.Tech-Civil, Semester-III,
D D University
Area Measurements

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Introduction
▪ There are a number of important reasons for determining areas.
▪ It is often necessary to compute the area of a tract of land which may be regular or irregular in
shape. Land is ordinarily bough land sold on the basis of cost per unit area, To compute volumes
of earthwork, to be cut or filled in planning a highway, it' is necessary to compute the areas of
cross sections.
▪ Units of Area Measurement:
▪ 1 Sq. ft ▪ 1 var = 1 Sq. yd. = 9 Sq. ft.
▪ 1 Sq. m ▪ 1 vigha = 1936 var, 5 vigha ≈ 1 acre
▪ 1 Sq. km ▪ 1 guntha = 33 ft x 33 ft = 1089 sq. ft. = 101.2 sq. m.
▪ 1 hectare = 10000 m2 = 0.01 km2
▪ 1 Acre = 4840 Sq. yd. = 4046.86 = m2

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Methods of Measuring Area
▪ Both field and map measurements are used to determine area.
▪ Field measurement methods are the more accurate and include
(1) Division of the tract into simple figures (triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids),
(2) Offsets from a straight line,
(3) Coordinates
▪ Methods of determining area from map measurements include
(1) Counting coordinate squares,
(2) Dividing the area into triangles, rectangles, or other regular geometric shapes,
(3) Digitizing coordinates, and
(4) Using planimeter

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Measurement of Area - By dividing into simple shapes
Division of the tract into simple figures (triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids)

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Measurement of Area - By dividing into simple shapes
Division of the tract into simple figures (triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids)

B B1
E
E1

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Measurement of Area - By dividing into simple shapes
Division of the tract into simple figures (triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids) A
▪ Measured distances:
▪ Triangle ABC: base = AC = 130 m, height = BB1 = 55 m
B B1
▪ Triangle ACE: base = AC = 130 m, height = EE1 = 37 m
E
E1
▪ Area of ABC = 0.5 x base x height = 0.5 x 130 m x 55 m = 3575 m2
▪ Area of ACE = 0.5 x 130 m x 37 m = 2405 m2 C
▪ Total Area = 3575 + 2405 = 5980 m2

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Measurement of Area - By dividing into simple shapes
Division of the tract into simple figures (triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids)

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Measurement of Area - By dividing into simple shapes

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
Area by Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ Irregular tracts can be reduced to a series of trapezoids by observing right-angle offsets from
points along a reference line. The spacing between offsets may either be regular or irregular,
depending on the conditions.

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
Area by Offsets from Straight Lines - Regularly Spaced Offsets
▪ Boundary area can be calculated form one of the following methods/rules: The average ordinate
rule, The trapezoidal rule & Simpson’s rule.
▪ The average ordinate rule

Sum of ordinates O1 + O2 + … + On
Area = x Base length = xL
No. of ordinates n

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ The Average Ordinate Rule
▪ Example: The following perpendicular offsets were taken from a survey line to an irregular
boundary line at an interval of 10 m: [0, 2.50, 3.50, 5.00, 4.60, 3.20, 0 m] . Compute the area
between the survey line, the irregular boundary line and the end offsets by the average ordinate
rule.
Sum of ordinates
Area = x Base length
No. of ordinates

0 + 2.50 + 3.50 + 5.00 + 4.60 + 3.20

= 𝟏𝟔𝟏. 𝟏𝟒 𝐦𝟐

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ The Trapezoidal Rule
O1 + O2 O3 + O4
1st Area = xd 3rd Area = xd
2 2

O2 + O3 On − 1 + On
2nd Area = xd Last Area = xd
2 2

▪ The trapezoidal rule may be stated as follows: To the sum of the first and the last ordinate, twice
the sum of intermediate ordinates is added. This total area is multiplied by the common
distance. Half of this product is the required area.

Common Distance
Area = x { 1st Ordinate + Last Ordinate + 2 sum of other ordinates }
2

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ The Trapezoidal Rule
▪ Example: Example: The following offsets were taken at 15 m intervals from a survey line to an
irregular boundary line: (3.50, 4.30, 6.75, 5.25, 7.50, 8.80, 7.90, 6.40, 4.40, 3.25 m). Calculate the
area enclosed between the survey line, the irregular boundary line, and the first and last offsets
by The trapezoidal rule.

15
Area = x { 3.50 + 3.25 + 2 4.30 + 6.75 + 5.25 + 7.50 + 8.80 + 7.90 + 6.40 + 400 }
2

= 820.125 m2

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule
▪ In Simpson's rule it is assumed that the irregular boundary is made up of parabolic arcs. The
areas of the successive pairs of intercepts are added together to get the total area.

n-1 n-2

▪ Total area = (Common Distance/3) x [1st Ordinate + Last Ordinate + 4 (Sum of even ordinates)
+ 2 (sum of remaining odd ordinates)]
▪ Limitation: This rule is applicable only when the number of division is even, i.e., the number of
ordinates is odd.

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
▪ Simpson’s 1/3rd Rule
▪ Example: The following perpendicular offsets in in are measured from a straight line to an
irregular boundary at regular intervals of 10 m:
h1=8.25 h4=10.85 h7=15.25 h10=17.35 h13=12.25
h2=13.85 h5=12.25 h8=16.85 h11=20.05
h3=12.25 h6=13.60 h9=14.95 h12=15.90

n-1 n-2

10
= x { 8.25 + 12.25 + 4 13.85 + 10.85 + 13.60 + 16.85 + 17.35 + 15.90
3
+2 12.25 + 12.25 + 15.25 + 14.95 + 20.05

= 𝟏𝟕𝟒𝟓. 𝟑𝟑 𝐬𝐪. 𝐦.

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Measurement of Area - By Offsets from Straight Lines
Area by Offsets from Straight Lines - Irregularly Spaced Offsets
▪ For irregularly curved boundaries, the spacing of offsets along the reference line varies. Spacing
should be selected so that the curved boundary is accurately defined when adjacent offset
points on it are connected by straight lines.
▪ Simpson Method or Trapezoidal method may be adopted to find the area of each part
separately.

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Measurement of Area - By Coordinates Method
Method of Coordinates:
▪ Computation of area within a closed polygon is most frequently done by the coordinate method.
▪ In this procedure, coordinates of each angle point in the figure must be known. They are
normally obtained by traversing, although any method that yields the coordinates of these
points is appropriate.
(X1,Y1)
(X4,Y4)

(X2,Y2)
(X3,Y3)
d1 d2 d3 d4

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Measurement of Area - By Coordinates Method
Method of Coordinates:

1: X1 Y1
(X1,Y1)
2: X2 Y2
(X4,Y4)
3: X3 Y3
4: X4 Y4
N: Xn Yn
(X2,Y2)
1: X1 Y1 (X3,Y3)

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Measurement of Area - By Coordinates Method
Example: The coordinates of traverse stations of a closed traverse ABCDE are given below.
Calculate the area enclosed by the traverse.
Station A B C D E
X (m) 0 170 470 340 -40
Y (m) 0 320 90 -110 -220

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Measurement of Area - By Counting Coordinate Squares
▪ A simple method for determining areas consists in overlaying the mapped parcel with a
transparency having a superimposed grid.
▪ The number of grid squares included within the tract is then counted, with partial squares
estimated and added to the total. Area is the product of the total number of squares times the
area represented by each square.

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Measurement of Area - By measuring Scaled Lengths
▪ If the boundaries of a parcel are identified on a map, the tract can be divided into triangles,
rectangles, or other regular figures, the sides measured, and the areas computed using standard
formulas and totalled.

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Measurement of Area - By Digitizing Coordinates
▪ Area determination by digitizing existing maps is now being practiced extensively in creating
databases of geographic information systems.
▪ The area of a parcel on a map created in a computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) system
can often be determined using this method by simply selecting the boundary of the parcel.
▪ This is the most common method employed today.

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Measurement of Area - By Digitizing Coordinates

https://earth.google.com/web/
https://youtu.be/DEYcScw20vk

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Measurement of Area - By Planimeter
▪ A planimeter measures the area contained within any closed figure that is circumscribe by its
tracer. There are two types of planimeters: mechanical and electronic.

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