Leica (Wild) Surveying Equipment(TOTALSTAION)

The Leica (Wild) equipment is well known as some of the best surveying equipment available. It is often referred to as "the Cadillac" of surveying equipment. "All surveyors either own a Leica (Wild) or wish that they did" (Hanz Haselbach, Jr., personal communication, 1991). Leica (Wild) makes top of the line equipment that is used on all expeditions and has better mechanics, optics, factory support, ease of repair, and ability to maintain resale value than other manufacturers. Furthermore, the company supports older equipment by providing a modular set-up, allowing selective upgrades:

We bought our system from:
Surveyor’s Service Company
4317 N. 16^th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85016
(800) 938-0608
(602) 274-2052
They should be consulted for upgrades, repairs or with questions. Preparation In order to properly prepare for a survey effort, checking the equipment in the lab/office before leaving and proper reconnaissance before set up are important. On the next page is a list of equipment and the checks that should be made before leaving the office.
Planning and Reconnaissance Before leaving the office, look at the base map or airphoto of the area and define the mapping project(s). Consider access. If you need permission to get on the property, you should get that well in advance. The equipment is heavy and bulky. Two people can carry it with difficulty for 1 or 2 kilometers, but it is a demoralizing experience. Therefore, try to plan appropriate vehicle access, but don't drive unnecessarily through the landscape destroying the beauty and making a bad name for geologists! You must have a field assistant. Operating this equipment by yourself is pretty silly, although it can be done. You will end up walking at least two times the total slope length of the shots you make. The distance will add up quickly! Your helper need not be a geologist, but should be sturdy, careful, and interested.
Once in the field, walk over the area with the field assistant. Look for suitable instrument stations. Much time and precision may be lost with multiple set ups. Therefore, plan the minimum number of instrument stations. A high position somewhere near the survey area should suffice. Remember that the instrument has an effective working range of at least 1 km, so if you have walkie-talkies or body signals and can communicate (see communication techniques) over long ranges, much of the survey may be completed from a single well chosen site. Consider gullies and ridges, and other obstacles that may obscure the survey. Remember that the reflector plumb staff telescopes to 2.15 m, so that may help with visibility. Be sure to communicate to the instrument operator changes in reflector height (click here to see how to enter into Total Station) and record them on the Survey Record Form and in the Thoedolite! While reconnoitering the area, consider the problem being addressed by the mapping project, and choose an appropriate and optimal strategy: What is the optimum number and distribution of points necessary for this project? What is the desired precision? Will I ever want to reoccupy this network? Be sure that the field assistant understands the strategy too, so that you do not have to have major discussions about strategy once you have started working, although the plan should be flexible if an obvious modification becomes apparent.

Table 2. Equip and location.

Y	Item	Check/comments
	Essential Total Station Equipment: Total Station and parts photo checklist
	Theodolite	Check smoothness of horizontal and vertical spindles. Turn on and off to check electronics.
	Tripod	Set up and make sure that it opens smoothly. There should be no play between the various components. If necessary, moderately tighten the three Allen screws under the tripod plate. When the tripod is lifted by its head, the legs should just remain spread out. Adjust the hinge screws if necessary. The yellow plastic head cover for the tripod contains an Allen key for the tripod screws.
	Verbatim SRAM card	This is the memory. It should be stored in the side of the Theodolite in its compartment. Check with previous users of the instrument to determine if they have backed up any data they might need in the module so you can clear it if necessary before starting your survey. Note: It must be inscerted correctly: Look at the front with the right-side-up and that side goes on the bottom of the case. So when the case is shut the front is facing the outside of the Total Station and it is right-side-up.
	Reflector	Ensure it is clean and stored in a clean place.
	Reflector plumb staff	Make sure it telescopes smoothly.
	Batteries	Ensure that at least one of the large ones has been charged. To fully charge, it may take 8 to 12 hours. Also charge the on board battery on the Total Station.
	Computer	Optional. Make sure that you have all of the cables and parts (mouse, keyboard, etc.). Software necessary for Liscad plots include Excel, Canvas, Liscad, and the Liscad dongle. Bring some floppy disks to back up data in a few places.
	Brunton Compass	Used to approximately level the instrument, and to determine reference azimuth.
	Backpack, Briefcase	These should be loaded up with the gear.
	Altimeter	Measures barometric pressure for scale correction
	Thermometer	Measure temperature for scale correction.
	Extra survey Equipment:
	Flags	Do you have enough for your plan?
	Flagging tape	Could be useful.
	Survey Record Form	Are the information columns adequate?
	Clipboard
	Pencils, ruler, protractor
	Liscad Dongle	Necessary to run the Liscad plotting program.
	Printer and paper	Good for mapping and plotting results
	Cables	Printer, laptop
	Binoculars	Helps to spot instrument or rod person.
	Walkie-Talkies	Make sure batteries are fully charged and if necessary have extras.
	Calculator	Useful for checking measurements and calculations.
	Metric grid paper	Useful for checking plots and measurements, and for mapping.
	Rebar, steel rods, or stakes	For benchmarks. You may also want cement.
	Sledge hammer	Pounding benchmarks. You can use a rock hammer, too.
	Appropriate base map or topographic map/airphoto	Use these to locate benchmarks and reference locations for the survey.