Triaxial positioning from an unoccupied baseline

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the use of trilateration and trigonometric levelling for determining triaxial co-ordinates of occupied and observed points, by measurement to baseline stations. The purpose of the study was to determine the feasibility of using an off-site baseline as a means of providing on-site control on areas such as surface mines which require repeated quantity surveys and on which survey control is liable to destruction. Two study areas of 1.7 and 16.1 hectares were used. Base positional data was obtained by traverse and differential levelling over a 6 or 7 station test network. On each test site two survey stations were selected as the termini of a baseline. The remaining stations in each network were occupied and slope distance and zenith angle observation to the baseline stations were used to compute the horizontal position of the point occupied. On study area one, mean horizontal positional errors averaged 0.018 m and 0.020 m in y and x respectively. The mean horizontal positional er...