ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Theodolite Live Long And Prosper

Updated on January 22, 2010

I remember my first experience of surveying and in particular the precious Wild theodolite. It was about 1975 and I was working for the electricity company as a junior cartographic draughtsman.

One of my tasks was to go out and help survey the path of proposed overhead electricity cables. This of course usually meant going out to the middle of nowhere in all sorts of weather to map out the proposed line of the cables, pylon bases and any significant height contour variations in between using the trusty Wild theodolite.

Wild T2
Wild T2
Wild T3
Wild T3

I don't remember the exact model we used but after a bit of research for Wild, I think it was somewhere between the 1955 vintage T2 and the 1975 T3.



We were lucky insomuch that the land was, on the whole fairly flat, but we still had a fair number of lakes, rivers, woods and mounds to negotiate through. Armed with the trusted Wild theodolite, tripod, staff, pegs and tape together with the all important note book. We would agree a plan of attack and then daisy chain our way across the landscape. Always staying in visual (eye to eye) contact was essential as this was pre mobile phones and at that time budgets were so tight that we could not afford a walkie-talkie.

This was a real nightmare in summer when the crops were full because even though we were using a 4m staff you only needed a small amount of land curvature and you would lose visual contact with the theodolite operator. You then had no idea where you were. So we would then have to triangulate our way round the field.

So there was a lot of hand waving, shouting and walking backwards and forwards that was necessary to get the job done.

This was all pre GPS  so we had to tie every thing in to some well defined landmark or feature. This often meant throwing a line off some distant building or wall.

As a consequence it all took a long time. With constant resetting of the theodolite over the next base line point with a plumb bob and a strong wind. Then taking measurements and reading off the linear scales and trying to write it all down in some meaningful fashion. But it was great fun and as a bonus I managed to spend most of the 1976 UK heat wave working outside.

The Leica Flexline TS09 Total Station
The Leica Flexline TS09 Total Station
Leica Builder 100 Theodolite
Leica Builder 100 Theodolite

When I look at the modern day theodolites together with the technology that is available and taken for granted I realise that we have moved forwards a long way. Obviously if I was doing the job now I would replace my Wild theodolite with a Leica Total Station (Wild were merged with the Cambridge Instrument Company in 1990 to form the Leica Geosystems company).

I now would be able to set up easily over my marker, measure distances directly at a press of a button, store these onboard for future download via USB or Bluetooth. I would determine my actual location via GPS. I can even control my Total Station remotely!

And I could do in hours what may have taken me days to do before.

A modern Theodolite (rather than Total Station) still provides significant advantages over it's 1974 predecessor.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)