Horizontal Curves
This point lies at the beginning of a horizontal curve.
What is the Point of Curvature (PC) or Beginning Curve (BC)?
These stakes are placed to guide grading contractors for cutting or filling.
What are slope stakes?
This U.S. president was a licensed land surveyor before entering politics.
Who is George Washington?
This field involves determining the relative positions of points and physical features on or near the Earth’s surface.
What is surveying?
There are this many feet in a chain.
What is 66 feet?
The radius of a horizontal curve is always measured from this location.
What is the center of the curve or Radius Point (RP)?
The horizontal distance between points laid out for a curb and gutter is typically marked using this method that allows the contractor to retain the set points.
What is offset staking?
This American survey system divided land into townships and sections to organize settlement in the western U.S.
What is the Public Land Survey System (PLSS)?
This modern instrument combines EDM, angle measurement, and data collection.
What is a total station?
One acre equals this many square feet.
What is 43,560 square feet?
This term describes the angle between the back tangent line and the forward tangent line at the Point of intersection (PI).
What is the delta angle (Δ)?
This type of staking is used to guide the placement of columns, walls, or corners.
What is building layout staking?
This ancient civilization used rope stretchers, known as "harpedonaptae," to measure land boundaries after annual floods.
What is Ancient Egypt?
A benchmark provides this key piece of information.
What is elevation?
This standard unit of length is used worldwide in metric-based surveying systems.
What is the meter?
This is the distance from the Point of Intersection (PI) to the Point of Curvature (PC).
What is the tangent length (T)?
This cut-and-fill reference point is often marked with lath and a hub.
What is a grade stake?
This U.S. agency, established in 1879, became a leading authority on topographic mapping and geodetic control.
What is the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)?
This type of survey captures the location and elevation of natural and man-made features to create contour maps.
What is a topographic survey?
There are 60 of these in one degree, and 60 seconds in one of them.
What is a minute of angle (or angular minute)?
This value is found using the formula πRΔ/180, where R is the radius and Δ is the central angle in degrees.
What is the length of the curve (L)?
Construction staking for roadways typically begins with staking this alignment.
What is the centerline?
This famous English surveyor developed the first standardized chain used in measuring land.
Who is Edmund Gunter?
This system allows surveyors to determine positions using satellites.
What is GPS (Global Positioning System) or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)?
Commonly used in roadway and utility layout, this unit represents a horizontal distance of 100 feet.
What is a station?