Answer to Question #150181 in Civil and Environmental Engineering for joseph se

Question

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the breaking the tape
method in measuring the horizontal distance of a sloping terrain?

2. Give other methods of determining the horizontal distance between two points

Answer 1

The advantages of the breaking the tape method in measuring horizontal distances of a slope are it makes it easier for the surveyors to measure long distances since the tape is divided into a certain length and it gives accurate distance measurements. It can be useful as well if the surveyors don’t have an Abney level in hand.

The disadvantages of using this are the tape will sag and the tape might not be horizontal because the person downhill may be holding it too low or too high. In addition, the temperature can affect the length of the tape. This method is also too labor intensive for the surveyors. 

The most accurate is the measurement of TDS total distance system, we can also use the Pythagorean theorem in determining the angle, we can also use law of cos, law of sin, break the tape method,abney hand level, parallel distance measurement and many other formulas.

Another method is the dynamic taping. Just like in slope taping, the taping is done along the slope, but this time, the vertical angle is measured with a transit. Then, the horizontal distance is computed.