Land Surveying Software/formula Suggestions

[RonBB]

So I am toying with laying out some small sheds & misc. items on some agricultural property. I don't need surveyor precision as I won't be near any property boundaries. I was thinking perhaps some Coordinates from the GPS (Lat. & Long) of two points would give me a distance between the two points & a bearing of the line between the two. Anybody know the formula or a cheap software package? Any references? I did a Google search & there is a lot out there but I thought someone in the field could simplify somewhat or suggest something they might use.

 

[Ignacio]

If you're trying to lay out overall position of structures on a larger chunk of land...GPS derived components might be usable depending on the reported accuracy level of the GPS unit. If you're trying to set building corners.....not going to be very accurate. With WAAS you might be able to get down to 5-10 feet of accuracy.

That said how about this online calculator? It gives distance and bearing from two points entered from what is commonly displayed in a GPS. ddd.mmmm coordinates.

 

[RonBB]

Thanks Iggy. No I was just looking for rough distances not building corners. For what it's worth I plugged in a couple of points I had measured the distance between at 29 feet with a tape measure. The web site yielded 54 feet. The coordinates I had came from a Garmin Aviation GPS (Model 196). It is intended for VFR flying. It is not of surveyors grade and only read to 1/10 of a minute. Probably OK for what I was looking for over 40-50 acres, not so good for the yard measurements or closer work.

 

[cardingtr]

Google Earth.

 

[RonBB]

Thanks Card. I had not thought of Google Earth. After I checked it out I found that it might work better than the GPS Data I had. I turned on the "Grid" under tools tab & also found the "Rule" function that was helpful. Thanks Ron

 

[wfooshee]

+1 on Google Earth's ruler. Used it a bunch of times.

 

[cardingtr]

I usually use it to measure my running distance.

 

[Sportster]

+1 on Google Earth's ruler. Used it a bunch of times.

+2

Wicked accurate IF your area is in the fine detail maps. And, you still have to rely on the +/- 10-15 error built in the GPS unit. But, as you said, boundary lines are not involved.

Sportster

 

[Capt. Bob]

So I am toying with laying out some small sheds & misc. items on some agricultural property. I don't need surveyor precision as I won't be near any property boundaries. I was thinking perhaps some Coordinates from the GPS (Lat. & Long) of two points would give me a distance between the two points & a bearing of the line between the two. Anybody know the formula or a cheap software package? Any references? I did a Google search & there is a lot out there but I thought someone in the field could simplify somewhat or suggest something they might use.

Coming in a little late but.....

This is what we use to convert lat. lon. to State Plane. Clicky

Once you have your coordinates (northings (Y) and eastings (X)) finding the distance between them (inversing) and the line direction(bearing) is usually done with a survey program but....

In the old days (think George Washington) this is what you did in the field.

Call your two points a & b

Now subtract the two northings from each other: Ya-Yb = the change (delta)Y

Subtract the two eastings from each other: Xa -Xb = the change (delta) X

Now divide: delta X /delta Y = tan of the bearing. Direction is arbitrary on paper (north/top, east/right) You can find the bearing from any good "Functions" book or math (trig) text. There's probably a conversion engine on the internet.

For distance you need to square the two (delta X and deltaY))then add those two answers together. Then take the square root of that total. Distance is expressed in feet.

 

[RonBB]

Thanks Capt. Bob, I basically knew the trig I just wasn't sure how the coordinates got to distance units such as feet. Looks as though the coordinate system had some forethought in the planning. Thanks again. Ron