Mapúa Institute of Technology
School of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
ELEMENTARY SURVEYING
FIELD MANUAL
FIELD WORK NO. 1
PACING IN LEVEL GROUND
CE120-0 / A1
Submitted By:
Dionisio, Merlin
2009100957
Group No. 3
Date of Field Work: April 26, 2011
Date of Submission: May 03, 2011
SUBMITTED TO:
Professor: Engr. Richard Wong
GRADE
FIELD WORK NO. 1
PACING ON LEVEL GROUND
OBJECTIVES:
- To obtain individual pace factor
- To determine an unknown distance by individual pacing
INSTRUMENTS:
- 2 Range Poles
- Chalk
- 2 marking pins
- 50 meter tape
PROCEDURE:
A. Determination of Individual Pace Factor (P.F.)
1. The professor measures and designates a 50m course on a level ground.
(Remember to remove the tape while the students will be pacing on the course to
prevent them from using the tape as a basis for a straight course.)
2. The ends of the assigned course are marked with either hubs or marking pins or,
by chalk marks if on pavements. Designated the points as A and B.
3. Set or hold range poles behind points A and B or outside the course AB. These
poles will aid the students to travel in a straight path.
4. Each student should take turn pacing the course from A to B starting with heel or
toe over A, keeping their eyes focus on the range pole behind point B to keep
themselves on a straight path. One has to walk in their natural unaffected manner,
and has to keep counting their number of paces for the entire course being
covered. A partial pace at the end of the course should be figured out to the nearest
one fourth of a pace. Record this as the number of paces for trial No. 1.
5. For trail No. 2, each student should walk from B to A in the same manner as in the
first trial.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the subsequent trials to comply with the number of trials
required by the professor.
7. Data should be entered in the preliminary data sheet.
B. Determination of an unknown distance of the assigned course by pacing
1. The professor marks the end of a level course to be paced by each student.
2. Range poles are to be set up outside the level course to straighten the path of the
student.
3. Each student paces the course with the minimum number of trials as required,
recording the number of paces for each trial.
4. The professor after all field notes shall have been submitted, assigns two students
to make an actual taping of the course to determine its actual taped distance.
COMPUTATIONS:
The computation of sample field notes is done in accordance with the steps listed
hereunder:
A) Computations of P.F.
1. Get the sum of the 5 trials and divide its sum by number of trials to get the mean.
N=mean number of paces=
∑ of t h e number of paces
number of paces
2. Divide the length of the course by the mean number of paces to get the individual
Pace Factor P.F.
lengt h of course
P.F.= ∗m/ pace
meannumber of paces
B) Computation of an unknown distance and percent error
1. Get the sum of the number of paces in each trial and divide this sum by the
number of trials performed to get the mean.
N=mean number of paces =
∑ of t h e number of paces
number of trials
2. Multiply the mean number of paces of the unknown distance by the pace factor
(P.F.) to obtain the paced distance
P.D.=(N)*(P.F.)
3. Divide the difference between the taped distance and the paced distance by the
error taped distance and multiply the quotient by 100% to get the percentage of
error.
Taped distance – paced distance
Percentage of error = x 100
number of trials
THE PRINCIPLE:
A pace maybe measured form heel to heel of from toe to toe. While half pace is
from toe of one foot to the heel of the other foot, to keep one on the line while pacing,
it is good practice to fix his eyes on a distant object at the range behind the pole on the
farther end of the line being paced. Since the accepted precision of measuring distance
by pacing is 1/300, it should be used only for estimating distance such as those used
for sketching and making reconnaissance surveys.
PRECISION OF PACING A DISTANCE:
The precision of measuring a distance by pacing is only 1/300.
Precision of pacing a distance = 1/300
QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS:
1. Why is it important to know the individual’s pace factor?
It is important to know the individual’s pace factor because it is very useful
in the field of engineering, especially when you’ve forgotten to bring a meter tape
or any measuring device on the site to be used to measure the length of the course
you can still compute the distance with the help of your own pace factor. It is
important to understand the scope of pace factor especially by the civil engineers
in the field of surveying.
2. Name Three most important pointers that an individual must remember to follow
in order to make his/her approximation of the distance of an unknown course to be
as accurate as possible.
- Remember the count
- Pace regularly
- Try to stay straight as possible
3. A student tries to measure the perimeter of a small Park of his community by
pacing around the area for three consecutive times. The number of paces was
tallied at 535,543 and 539 respectively, for each trial. If the student’s pace factor is
0.74m/pace, determine the actual perimeter of the land.
535+ 543+ 539
Mean=
3
¿ 539
Perimeter=( mean)∗( pace factor )
¿(539)∗(0.74)
Perimeter=398.86 m
4. Every morning, joy walks school from her boarding house and takes only a single
route. For five consecutive days, she tries to count the number of paces she makes.
Monday morning’s number of paces made joy is listed as 345 pace. On Tuesday,
353 paces; Wednesday; 358 paces; Thursday, 348 paces, and lastly, on Friday 355
paces. That Friday afternoon, a surveyor from city engineer’s office who is tasked
to lay out a new drainage piping system, measured the exact route she took and
found out that the taped distance is 275 m. what is joy’s pace factor?
345+353+358+348+ 355
mean=
5
¿ 351.8
Taped distance
Pace factor =
mean
275
¿
351.8
Pace factor =0.78
FINAL DATA SHEET
FIELD WORK NO. 1 PACING ON LEVEL GROUND
DATE: April 26, 2011 GROUP NO.: 3
TIME: 7:30 AM LOCATION: Walls of Intramuros
A. PACE FACTOR (P.F.) DETERMINATION
TRIAL LINE TAPED DISTANCE NO. OF PACES MEAN PACE FACTOR
1 AB 50M 75
2 BA 50M 74
3 AB 50M 78 76 0.66
4 BA 50M 77
5 AB 50M 75
B. COMPUTATIONS:
Taped Distance
Mean = Average number of paces Pace Factor=
Mean
75+74+78+77+ 75 50
= =
5 76
= 76 Pace Factor=0.66
C. MEASURING DISTANCE BY PACING
TRIAL LINE NO. OF PACES MEAN P.F. P.D. T.D ERROR
1 CD 67
2 DC 65
3 CD 70 68 0.66 44.88 45.5 1.36%
4 DC 69
5 CD 69
D. COMPUTATIONS:
Mean =Average number of paces
67+65+70+69+ 69
=
5
¿ 68
E. SKETCH
10m 10m 10m 10m 10m = 50m
Discussion
The easiest and quickest way to measure distance is to walk or pace the distance
and record the number of paces. Pacing consists of counting the number of steps, or
paces, in required distance. A pace is defined as the length of a step in walking. It may be
measured steps; and if the steps are counted, distances can be determined if the length of
a step is known. Counting strides instead of paces is sometimes preferred by surveyors. A
stride is equivalent to two paces or a double step. Because of its many practical
applications it is one of the most valuable things learned in surveying.
Pacing furnishes a rapid means of checking measurements taken by other methods.
It is suitable in determining approximate distance is situations where a low precision of
measurement is sufficient. Distances by pacing are sufficiently accurate for small-scale
mapping, for locating details and traversing with the plane table, and in reconnaissance
surveys. It is also used for many purposes in geology, forestry, engineering, and
agriculture. Under average conditions, a good pacer will have a little difficulty in pacing
distances with a relative precision of 1/200. Results could be attained within 1% of
accurately measured distances. Unless a mistake has been made in counting, it will
seldom be more than 3% error.
The first field work done last Thursday, January 13, 2011, is all about pacing on
level grounds in which we are asked to layout the steel tape and as the procedure directs,
we measured a 50-meter distance in which every member if the group is to walk along
the said length. After five intervals we consequently got the first data needed to
determine the individual’s pace factor. We measured one pace from heel-to-heel and
0.61m was produced from my data as my pace factor.
On the second part of the field work, this is the determination of an unknown
distance of the assigned course by the use of pacing. First, we let a distance to be out
course of length and then just like on the first part we walk naturally on that five times.
Afterwards, we compute the data gathered to get the mean, the pace factor and then the
paced distance.
Related research
Knowing pace factor is very useful in the field of engineering specifically in civil
engineering in the field of surveying when you don’t have an instrument in measuring a
long distance of course or a line. The length of a pace varies with different persons. This
can be determined by walking along a lone of known length on lever ground at a uniform
gait, and counting the number of paces is takes to negotiate the stretch. The last pace is
estimated to the nearest quarter pace. It is advisable to do this in at least five or more
trials in order to determine the average number of paces. The pace factor is then
determined by dividing the known distance by dividing the known distance by the
average number of paces required to traverse it. It is expressed in mere pre pace. Any
unknown distance may then be approximately calculated by determining the number of
paces (preferably the average) one takes to negotiate it and multiplying this by one’s pace
factor.
The importance to walk naturally is to calibrate one’s pace and in pacing
distances. Cares should be taken to walk along a straight line. A slight deviation to the
left or right will definitely affect the accuracy of pacing. Also, and attempt to make each
step a predetermined length is tiring and will only give less accurate results. The length of
a pace will vary with the speed of pacing, the roughness of the ground, the weight of
clothing and shoes used, fatigue on the part of the pacer m the slope of the terrain, as well
as the age and sex of the individual. The pace will also differ when going uphill. Pacing
downhill will produce fewer steps than pacing same distance uphill. In general the length
of the pace decreases as any of these factors increases, except the speed.
