Tacheometric Surveying

The use of modern surveying equipment is on the increase in present-day archaeological field research. The instrument that is most often employed is the total station or tachymeter.

During this seminar, various models of instruments manufactured by Leica, Wild, Zeiss, Sokkia and Topcon will be introduced and demonstrated. Further models or tachymeters made by other manufacturers can also be presented during the training course on request.

Total Stations / Tachymeters (left to right: Leica, Topcon, Sokkia, Zeiss)

Basic technical surveying procedures as well as more specialist surveying methods for use in excavation documentation will be practiced during the seminar. The practical aspects of the seminar take place on an "archaeological obstacle course" on the company premises.

In addition to this, participants will be instructed in the basics of survey data processing and the use of various stand-alone software tools which operate independently from the tachymeter.

Seminar Topics:

• Total Station Operation
  • Basic surveying theory
  • Setup and basic settings
  • Free stationing, other stationing methods
  • Marking out
  • Archaeological measuring and coding

• Total Station Software
  • Data transfer and conversion
  • Editing and correcting survey data
  • Various editing software
  • Various user interfaces
  • Other software tools for modification of survey data
  • Online interface, aSPECT3D

• CAD Data Processing
  • Overview of standard procedures
  • Specialist data processing in ArchaeoCAD
  • Specialist data processing in aSPECT3D

• Certified Surveying Exercise
  • Total station survey of various archaeological features on the "archaeological obstacle course".
  • Post-processing and correction of data
  • Data processing and generation of a basic plan using AutoCAD / ArchaeoCAD / aSPECT3D

Seminar participants will receive a certificate of completion.

Photogrammetry