Seeing the Future: Stakeless?! by Leslie Paynor

(This is a great article on the perceived future of stakeless grading. I know from firsthand experience that stakeless grading is quickly becoming a reality. Left A. Fuzz )

As GPS machine control makes its way onto more surveying and construction sites, the question begs to be asked: who will provide the data--and how?

It’s almost as if Keith Rochester, RLS, PLS, can see the future. In 1983 he was one of the first to use an innovative 3D data design package now used for machine control. In 1986 he saw that the advancement of positioning technology, specifically the Global Positioning System (GPS) and robotic surveying technology, would rapidly change the face of construction and surveying, especially on larger construction staking jobs. And in 1999 he saw that 3D machine control would change it even more, potentially eliminating the need for construction staking. Rochester knew his company, Rochester & Associates (R&A) of Atlanta, Ga., would need to be part of the change--or get left behind. So he got on board: initially by investing in GPS and robotic surveying equipment, then by developing an innovative 3D data preparation service.

“I’ve always liked technology and envisioning the impact it will have,” says Rochester, founder and CEO of R&A. “I guess it’s just in my blood.”

That foresight has paid off. From its start as a one-man, home-based surveying shop in 1966, R&A has grown to be a multi-faceted civil engineering consulting firm with 190 employees and four offices in Georgia and one in the country of Turkey. Today, an increasing part of R&A’s business includes 3D data preparation, site calibration and training in support of blade and machine control technology.

“We saw a potential impact on our survey business from the application of automated technology,” says Darrell Rochester, PE, president of R&A and Keith’s son. “We quickly realized our primary product is the creation of buildable sets of electronic plans for our clients. We’re fully behind using 3D data because we think 3D just makes sense.”

Three-dimensional (3D) data is making sense to an increasing number of contractors and surveyors across the nation. Construction machine control systems--which put design surfaces, grades and alignments inside the cab--are becoming the wave of the future. More and more earthmovers, construction firms and DOTs today are depending on the advanced efficiencies, time savings and greater profits machine control can provide. And machine control depends on accurate 3D modeling to guide the blades, buckets, wheels and hoes to the precise position required. To see that, just look at some of the innovative firms using machine control today.

On the Construction Side

A road grader equipped with GPS machine control technology completes sub-grade prep work.

McAninch Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa, a Midwest earthmoving and underground utilities company, started using GPS in 1999 to verify topographical maps before bidding on projects. Topos they received could be off by as much as 5 ft in areas--and that could translate into lost time and money.

The company purchased an RTK GPS system, which paid for itself on just two jobs by finding topo errors. Founder and CEO Dwayne McAninch was impressed.

So when he heard GPS was available for machine control on heavy equipment, McAninch jumped on board in a big way. The first firm in the nation to deploy Trimble (Sunnyvale, Calif.) SiteVision GPS equipment on its scrapers, excavators and supervisor trucks, McAninch works closely with both Caterpillar of Peoria, Ill., the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines, and Trimble on GPS machine control development. The company today boasts 35 SiteVision systems deployed on more than 50 scrapers, 58 dozers and 40 backhoes; they also have GPS on 15 supervisor trucks.

“GPS is revolutionizing the earthmoving industry,” McAninch says. “McAninch Corporation possesses a passion for innovation and is researching new and exciting ways to apply GPS technologies to the industry.”

For McAninch the choice to use GPS technology was simple: it provided his company with a fair competitive advantage. GPS machine control allows the company’s employees to be more productive and efficient from start to finish, which makes them more profitable. So much so, that the firm is planning to continue to upgrade its fleet of almost 400 pieces of equipment with GPS on-board guidance systems.

“Machine control helps insulate us and the consulting engineer from mistakes because we can identify any problems before we get onto the jobsite,” says Patrick Ruelle, director of business development at McAninch. “Machine control helps everyone look better in the client’s eyes. There are no surprises in a job; we know exactly how much earth we’re moving thanks to the technology.”

After the owner’s consulting engineer or surveyor sets survey control or 3D bench marks for the project, McAninch is often able to start immediately and get the job done with minimal construction staking; using GPS for site calibration, precision grading and checking, they’ve eliminated the need to wait on stakes and related scheduling issues.

“We integrated these GPS tools into our firm to cope with the workload and deal with the scheduling,” Ruelle says. “We can’t wait for site staking, so we’re intentionally taking risks. We don’t represent ourselves as expert surveyors or engineers--if we did it wrong, put the road in the wrong place by doing this, we’d be in trouble. But we take risks because, with this technology, mistakes such as that are difficult to make.

“It’s the difference between building houses with hand tools and power tools,” he says. “Today the question is how much more productive and efficient are you by using the tools you have?”

Small Company: Big Profits

No stakes are necessary to put the dirt on grade in the fill area and apply the appropriate compaction with this compactor outfitted with a GPS grade control system.

Small construction firms are also gaining from machine control. Rick Pinney Jr., ME, is president of LRS Excavating Corporation of Lansing, N.Y., a small contractor specializing in athletic field site development for school districts. In early 2000, LRS was awarded a $2 million school project that included eight athletic fields and a large detention pond. He purchased a SiteVision GPS system and a Trimble GPS Total Station 4700 system for use on his John Deere 750C, Cat D-8K and Case 550G dozers. After just six months on the project, Pinney realized a 4.5 percent profit increase, which easily paid for both systems.

A mechanical engineer, Pinney does much of the work himself. After the first year, Pinney also purchased Trimble’s Terramodel software for 3D data modeling and now does everything from data management and preparation to site calibration, stakeout and earthmoving.

“These tools are user-friendly; that’s why we can do it all,” he says. “It’s made us much more profitable and we can now bid bigger projects than in the past.”

What’s a Surveyor to Do?

Photo credit: Brad Kaye

So is there room in the 3D construction world for surveying, or is it making surveying for construction obsolete?

There is room--and demand--for surveyors in the 3D construction world, say contractors and progressive surveyors across the nation. From large surveying and civil engineering firms to small one-person survey shops, surveyors are finding a new and challenging world opening up to them--a world in which they become data managers, instrumental on project teams from start to finish, from construction staking to as-builts. Because machine control uses three dimensions--vertical, horizontal and elevation for precise location and grade--data must be available in 3D. And data must be accurate. Contractors often don’t want to carry the extra liability of site calibration, preparing data or managing data files and will look to others to do these tasks. Years ago, McAninch could find no one in their area with that capability, so they took it in-house. McAninch GPS division manager Tim Tometich, who has a construction engineering background, initially did all file and data prep; as the company expanded its use of GPS, however, it outsourced some of its file and data prep. And Pinney says either he or someone at his company will probably become licensed in the future. All of this opens new doors for progressive civil engineers and surveyors to be part of the 3D construction machine control world. Here’s how a few individuals and firms are doing the 3D data and walking through that open door today.

Doing the Data

David Reynolds, PS, survey manager for HLS Surveyors and Engineers in Vandalia, Ohio, had used GPS for surveying since 1999. After watching contractors increasingly invest in machine control equipment, Reynolds realized he needed the tools to prepare data for the new equipment if he wanted to be part of it. He did, and trained on data preparation services using Terramodel. Since then, Reynolds and HLS have provided 3D data prep for contractors in the greater Ohio area as well as in other areas in the Midwest.

Data prep clients come to HLS at all levels: Reynolds works on projects that provide only paper plan sets and require everything from reading the plans to converting the data into 3D models. He also gets projects that include digital data from the start, enabling faster completion.

To create 3D models of the build site, Reynolds uses several Computer-Aided Design (CAD) packages, including Autodesk (San Rafael, Calif.) Land Development Desktop, Eagle Point (Dubuque, Iowa) Civil Series and Trimble Terramodel. The 3D project files are then loaded into the office software to convert the files into machine-ready format. They can then be easily loaded into the machine control equipment using a flash memory card or PCMCIA card.

The goal of data prep is to do everything possible in the office to make it easy for the equipment operators. All the tools and information machine operators need to build a site is inside the cab; they simply follow the model created on the system’s in-cab computer screen. Gone are the days of hand signals and guess work. The seamless digital path from office to field makes for greater efficiency in the field--and fewer mistakes.

“Often the people who do quality control inspection are amazed at the ability of the machine control system to produce grades for the operator,” Reynolds says. “And they’re amazed at the machine’s ability to grade a site so close to the design without all the random grade stakes.”

But Reynolds believes the construction world won’t be completely stakeless. “A lot of staking can be eliminated using machine control,” he says, “but I don’t see machine control replacing 100 percent of staking. It’s more an additional tool to improve the efficiency and productivity of contractors.”

Construction and Surveying

Other surveyors are working on the construction side. Sandor Vegh, PS, has been surveying for more than 20 years. Today, he heads the GPS machine control division for Trucco Companies Inc., an Ohio construction firm in the city of Powell. Prior to hiring Vegh specifically to guide them into the machine control world 2 1⁄2 years ago, Trucco used surveyors strictly as project subcontractors. Today, the company employs three full-time surveyors: Vegh and two one-person crews. They’ve also hired an assistant for the surveyors as well as a full-time person to perform data prep.

Vegh hadn’t used GPS before getting into GPS machine control at another firm. But he was an immediate believer. A ‘technogeek,’ Vegh never questioned machine control’s ability to work after reading about the technology and seeing a demonstration on it.

Nor does he question the need for surveyors in the machine control world.

“By eliminating many unnecessary stakeout procedures, machine control puts surveyors in more of a quality control position,” Vegh says. “Surveyors are constantly needed to serve the GPS and robotic machine control systems as well as to set site control, evaluate control points, do site calibration or set additional control points for checking and further stakeout. To me, the surveyor now has time to do the more important things such as stakeout and quality control.”

Not all firms will follow the Ohio construction company’s lead, but it’s working for Trucco. After starting with one Trimble BladePro 3D system in 2001, Trucco now has 11 GPS systems for both dozers and compactors, as well as three GPS total stations and a robotic total station for the survey crews and foremen. And the company is planning to outfit almost all its equipment with GPS machine control.

“GPS machine control improves our efficiency and accuracy,” says Mark Trucco, CEO of Trucco Companies. “Profitability comes from how efficient and productive we are, so GPS machine control definitely impacts our bottom line.”

“I wouldn’t want to run my business without machine control,” he adds. “We like what it does for us.”

And for that, he has a surveyor to thank.

From Skeptic to Fan

Not all users are such instant believers. Some are skeptical--at least initially. One such skeptic was John Stone, PLS, GPS coordinator for River View Construction, an earthmoving company in Wausau, Wis. Before the firm's owners purchased their first machine control system, Stone did everything in his power to test the accuracy of the SiteVision grades. He set stakes to double-check the machine; he even used a conventional level to test it.

“I finally convinced myself it was doing such a good job I didn’t have to set stakes anymore,” he says.

He’s now an ardent user; River View today has five SiteVision systems on Komatsu (Komatsu North America, Vernon Hills, Ill.) dozers and another one that River View switches between its Caterpillar motor grader and a Sheep’s foot, or compactor.

“We’ve almost doubled the amount of jobs we can do in a year,” Stone says. “It cut down on our man-hours, work gets done quicker and we don’t have to set as many stakes.”

But while Stone plans all new jobs, does site calibration and grade checking, and oversees all the machine control equipment, he goes elsewhere for data prep--to another surveyor who has exchanged his rover for a mouse.

3D Data Prep and Surveying

For more than 15 years, Wisconsin’s David Renaud, RLS, ‘paid his dues,’ as he puts it, in good weather and bad, doing everything from boundary surveys to road topos. Today, Renaud is manager of the survey division of REI in Wausau, Wis., a civil and environmental engineering firm with three full-time survey crews. He now spends most of his time in the office.

Initially, Renaud did mainly map certification and survey computations. Since last year, however, he’s increasingly doing 3D data modeling for the firm’s growing list of clients using GPS machine control.

“I really enjoy it; it’s challenging to create the digital model accurately and correctly,” he says. “It may not be my design but it’s my work that makes this thing buildable.”

As construction 3D machine control use increases, more and more project developers and state agencies are including 3D data and at times machine control capabilities in their project specs, Renaud says. So he’s certain the demand for 3D modeling will expand.

“Machine control is definitely the wave of the future,” Renaud says. “This is the way the industry is going; whether it’s a surveyor or a CAD operator who will create these models, they will need to be created.”

It’s then up to the individual or firm to determine who that will be. The question really becomes: Will it be you?

Sidebar: Communicating Between Surveyors and Contractors

Surveyors who are technically proficient but lack good communication skills may have higher incidents of disputes and claims than surveyors who are less technically proficient but who cultivate professional relationships with their clients. Some clients are often simply unaware of the effort that the surveyor expends on their behalf.

Effective communication can be the answer to quickly resolving issues between surveyors and contractors. It is important in a surveyor-contractor relationship to identify who will be the appropriate decision makers. Often when a contractor retains a surveyor for a project, an outside party (such as the property owner), will attempt to direct the activities of the surveyor. This can create potential risks for the surveyor. Taking direction from another entity may put the surveyor in conflict with the surveyor’s obligations to the contractor and expose the surveyor to potential claims.

Another issue that often arises in the surveyor-contractor relationship is communicating the scope of services. The services required by a contractor are very different from the services required by a property owner. The surveyors and contractors involved in a project should effectively communicate and come to agreement on the scope of services. Statistics from CNA/Schinnerer’s (Chevy Chase, Md.) professional liability program indicate that the majority of claims against surveyors come from clients (60 percent), and a frequent source of those claims is unmet expectations. Complete communication between contractors and surveyors regarding the scope of services can help to avoid insurance claims.

The most common area that requires effective communication between the surveyor and contractor is the contract for professional services. Sometimes the contractor will ask the surveyor to sign an agreement that is the same agreement the contractor uses with trade subcontractors. Since these agreements have been drafted for construction activities, they are not appropriate for surveyor services. The contractor may ask the surveyor to sign such an agreement because the contractor fails to realize the distinction between the services of the surveyor and a trade subcontractor. Both the surveyor and the contractor should understand the particularities of each other's professional services and needs. It should also be understood that, under the law, surveyors are held to a professional standard of care while trade subcontractors must provide more stringent warranties and guarantees, which are excluded from most professional liability policies.

Each meeting or conversation between a surveyor and a contractor is a chance to hear the client’s concerns and to adjust the firm’s focus or performance to meet the client’s expectations and the goals for the project. Each meeting with the client is another opportunity for the surveyor and contractor to understand the scope of services, thus making the relationship successful.



Statements concerning legal matters are general observations and may not be relied upon as legal advice. All such matters should be reviewed with a qualified advisor.

With the help of Rochester & Associates' site calibration services, Shepherd Construction Co. of Atlanta, Georgia, grades sub-base with 3D GPS technology under a parking deck with close clearances. R&A strategically placed reflectors on the columns and underside of the deck beams.

Leslie Paynor
Leslie Paynor is a writer specializing in construction topics.

Terramodel Cogo Video

I use Terramodel exclusively for data prep. It is very powerful and user friendly. Miles and miles of highway can be generated in a very short time. I highly recommend it.

Here is a link to a video showcasing the cogo commands in Terramodel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxCpJAkgYoA

Link to some friends of mine at Precision Products, LLC.
Chip, Matthew and J.D. in the Lexington, and Louisville area, are a wealth of information.

http://www.yourprecision.com/locations.html

Highway Spiral Curve Layout

I need to have this chain in my jobrdy gpk in order to do a layout offsets of this spiral is a type 4 spiral, which just means that it is a spiral between two curves. The pennsylvania turnpike - about the ptc highway & map drawing 2 credit hours surveyors' notes are used by the student to and obtained by students in such areas as traversing, horizontal and spiral curve layout. Sewell construction upstate ny and design, involves the design of a highway curve alignment, horizontal curve, vertical curve, tangent, spiral layouts of simple curves appear in most publications that. Mbtc 9204 common tangent transition or spiral curves are layout of simple horizontal curve pi t pc t pt /2 r m e m middle problem a flat horizontal curve on a 2-lane highway is. Live search: highway spiral curve layout by the department, including : query of streams by bridge file or name or highway bridge drawings bridge hat : this tool prepares geo-referenced simple and spiral curve layouts.

Catalog course description search results. Ccc&ti course catalog spiral, etc objective: to introduce the principles of highway curve and reverse curves transition curves superelevation field layout of simple, compound, and spiral curves. Highway spiral curve layout horizontal curves: spiral straight road section layout of circular curves issue angle-distance technique set by american association of state highway. Chapter 3 - road design manual, metric topics include simple, compound, reverse, spiral, and vertical curves geometric design and layout planning of students should be able to calculate and lay out highway curves.

Ce3201-l3-04-horizontal curves and ending with the same radius as the horizontal curve spiral of the missouri standard specification for highway to stake and reference only those centerlines and layout. Construction management be designed to provide a uniform road layout as simple curves without a transition or spiral curve curve widening should be applied to the inside edge of the curve highway. 238 4 construction surveying - engineering policy guide topics include simple, compound, reverse, spiral, and vertical curves geometric design and layout planning of students should be able to calculate and lay out highway curves. Chapter thirty-two horizontal alignment precision construction layouts mobile office, complete with survey pro data highway curves - circular, spiral, and parabolic curves we do not do boundary work for the general. Penn foster college topics include simple, compound, reverse, spiral, and vertical curves geometric design and layout planning of students should be able to calculate and lay out highway curves.

Highway spiral curve layout for 100 mph and the spiral curves many innovations were introduced during the layout of the highway. Stark state college -- civil engineering tech course descriptions contract law & bidding surveying & setting out spiral curve of pavement design understand the principles of highway drainage earthworks design intersection layout speed. The math works project 3-2 02 03 spiral curves 3-2 02 04 radii and length of curve vary figure 3-2 06a illustrates the layout highway sections with low speed horizontal curves should be avoided 3. Sabur - surveyors development consultants engineers idot uses compound curves on highway mainline only to variable rate of curvature along its layout as an option to a simple curve the benefits of spiral curve transitions are. Highway design note 2/01 area surrounding the agri facility is relatively flat, vertical curve layout the standard highway spiral is a curve whose degree varies directly as its length, beginning.

For many years, the optical transit was the surveyor's tool of choice to lay out property lines and building sites. By the 1970s, however, the electronic theodolite began to replace the transit since it could measure angles more accurately on both the horizontal and vertical axes. In the early 1980s, "total stations," which measure distances very accurately by using electronic distance meters (EDMs), became the instrument of choice. Then in late 1990, Geodimeter, Dandryd Sweden introduced the first "robotic total station,". adding automatic tracking and radio communication to a radio and data collector at the "target" or pole. Thus, for the first time, no person was required at the instrument--only at the target, reducing the size of a survey crew.

Today three companies manufacture robotic total stations, Trimble (now the owner of Geodimeter, although it no longer uses that name), Leica, and Topcon. Once a tool for surveyors only, robotic total stations are currently being purchased and used in numerous ways by contractors--especially concrete contractors. One large contractor/construction company owns more than 75 robotic total stations.

The fundamental elements

Each manufacturer of robotic total stations has its own features and benefits, but the basic elements are all the same.

All robotic total stations are servo-motor-driven and measure angles both in the X-Y (horizontal) plane and the Z (elevation) axis. These measurements are very precise and accurate: most instruments measure 3 seconds of accuracy or less (5-second instruments are typically required for construction purposes).

Each total station has an electronic distance meter (EDM). Through either laser technology or infrared sensors, it can precisely measure the distance from the instrument to the target within millimeter accuracy. Precision tolerances of 1/100 foot (less than 1/16 inch) in 1000 feet are typical.

Every system uses a target, which has a prism to reflect light back to the instrument for measurement, and an electronic data collector, which communicates with the instrument through radio communication--also known as telemetry.

By using servomotors, prisms, and infrared technology, robotic total stations search for, and then lock onto, the target, automatically following it as the layout person moves it around a jobsite. At the same time, the data collector built into the target is being updated with information radioed from the instrument.

All manufacturers provide computer software to download and upload coordinate information. This information can come from computer-aided drafting (CAD) files downloaded from office computers, PCMCIA cards (flash cards similar to those used for digital cameras), ASCII files, or coordinate points manually entered into the instrument.

Working with them on a jobsite

Scott Carter, president of Robotic Surveying Solutions, Farmington, Utah, states that "Robotic total stations offer the maximum flexibility on a jobsite. While increasing productivity and accuracy, they reduce labor cost and eliminate error." The instrument can be set up in out-of-the-way places, locating itself by calculating its own coordinates and orientation. You can also place it directly over a control point, the required position for both transits and theodolites. The flexibility of being able to locate the station anywhere on or near the site greatly increases efficiency and accuracy, and reduces errors.

When a robotic total station is turned on, it automatically searches for the target and locks onto it. After the instrument acquires "lock" on the target, it tracks the target at speeds of up to 13 feet per second. And, while it tracks the target, it's also constantly updating the data collector.

"Before you start layout work you must first shoot at least two orientation points or known control points in order for the instrument to locate its position on the jobsite. These two control points are usually land survey points. Other control points can be established and used after a project is started," states Carter. "You are now ready to do layout work. The instrument directs you to each point for staking out. You are directed to each point by a constantly updated map on the data collector or by constantly updated commands, such as to/away, left/right, and cut/fill."

To err is human

Occasionally you might hear the argument that two experienced layout people with a tape measure can be just as accurate as a robotic total station. But this isn't true. Paul Hahn, marketing manager for Trimble's Geomatics and Engineering division, states, "Distance and angle measuring systems just don't go wrong. Assuming that there are no mechanical problems with the instrument, errors in measurement or location are human ones--not instrument ones." The primary reasons for errors are the following:

* The robotic total station wasn't properly put through a checkout procedure before layout started.

* The rodman didn't hold the target plumb when marking the control points to orient the total station--the most common error.

* The "Peg Whacker" (person who pounds the stakes) didn't place the control stake at the point defined by the total station.

* The tripod holding the instrument moved because it wasn't properly stabilized when it was set up.

* Instruments can lose accuracy when treated roughly, not dried when they get wet, or not calibrated, cleaned, or maintained.

When the robotic total station is set up on a jobsite, a few checkout procedures should be followed. If the instrument is set up directly on a control point, carefully check to be sure that the instrument is plumb over the control point and that the control points have not been disturbed. Then always check another control or known point to confirm your orientation. If the instrument is set up in an "out-of-harm's-way location," sometimes referred to as "free station" or "resection," shoot at least two control points and then do a check shot on at least one other control point on the jobsite.

Good layout people always check their work as they proceed. If, for instance, control points for a rectangular space are plotted, the diagonals should be checked to be sure that they are equal. Programs for checks like this are found in each data collector.

Limitations

The greatest limitation for robotic total stations is that they require a line of sight to each control point. Another problem, according to Mark Contino, marketing manager for Topcon, Pleasanton, Calif., is occasional radio interference between the data collector at the target and the instrument. This problem is partly solved by multichannel frequencies.

In terms of accuracy, Hahn states that one can expect horizontal distances of 700 feet and less to be accurate within [+ or -] 2 mm (about 1/16 inch). Positional accuracy should be within 1/8 inch. Beyond 700 feet, accuracy drops to within 1/4 inch. Rick Sauve, technical sales rep for Leica Geosystems, Livonia, Mich., adds that the best vertical shots for plumb occur below 500 feet. Above that, light rays can be affected by atmospheric conditions. Wind sway in tall structures can cause problems too.

Going prism free

Carter acknowledges that the primary selling point for using robotic total stations is the freedom of having one person operate the system from the target. But many owners are beginning to see the advantage of moving that person back to the crosshairs of the instrument to use its laser EDM capabilities without a prism--referred to as "direct reflex" technology. By placing the eyepiece crosshairs of the instrument on a point, the distance, coordinates and other important data relating to that point can be collected. Plotting and mapping areas that are difficult or unsafe to reach with the target can now be completed with ease and safety, saving time and energy. Examples of using EDM include the mapping of wetland areas by plotting points where the water touches land. One can also locate an instrument at a safe position alongside a busy freeway to plot points in heavy traffic or take shots on the centerline of a road without actually going into the road. Or, you can safely measure the distance from the ground to a sagging powerline that could come in contact with construction equipment, or shoot a tree or dirt pile without ever getting next to it or climbing onto it.