B.Arch Curriculum · Semester 3

Surveying, Levelling & Site Planning

Measure the ground, then read it for design. Chain survey and levelling, the theodolite, contouring, and the modern toolkit — total station, GIS, GPS, LIDAR and drone photogrammetry — and finally site inventory, analysis and planning. Five units with three live calculators: reducing a level book, converting bearings, and finding the gradient between contours.

5Units

3Calculators

3Credits

FreeForever

Start with Unit I All student courses

Unit V · Reading the site

Site Inventory, Analysis & Planning

Before form-making comes understanding. Site analysis inventories everything on and around a parcel — topography and drainage, soil, climate, accessibility and the legal layer — and interprets it as opportunities and constraints. Learn the checklist, the site-analysis diagram as a design-thinking tool, slope analysis for siting, and the principles of building with the land.

Site inventoryOpportunities & constraintsSite-analysis diagramSlope analysisPlanning principles

Open the lesson

The syllabus

From the chain to the contour to the site.

Transcribed from the official B.Arch syllabus. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons — with original diagrams, live calculators and a self-assessment quiz.

Unit 1 — Chain Survey & Levelling

Live

Chain-survey principles, classification and instruments; ranging (direct and reciprocal) and offsets. Levelling — the level and staff, reduced levels, the HI and rise-and-fall reduction methods with the arithmetic check, longitudinal and cross sectioning, errors, and plane-table methods.

CO1CO6

Unit 2 — Theodolite Survey

Live

The theodolite and its parts; measuring horizontal and vertical angles; setting out the centre line of a building and setting out angles; traversing; whole-circle and reduced bearings and their conversion; and cutting and filling.

CO2CO6

Unit 3 — Contouring

Live

Contours and the contour interval; the characteristics of contours; direct and indirect methods of contouring and interpolation; gradient and slope; and the uses of a contour map.

CO3CO6

Unit 4 — Total Station, GIS, LIDAR & Photogrammetry

Live

The total station (electronic theodolite + EDM); GPS/GNSS; GIS and spatial layers; LIDAR and the point cloud; photogrammetry, aerial and drone survey; and the modern field-to-finish digital workflow into CAD, BIM and GIS.

CO4CO6

Unit 5 — Site Inventory, Analysis & Planning

Live

The purpose of site analysis; site characteristics — topography, soil, hydrology and watershed, climate, accessibility and the legal layer; the site-analysis diagram; slope analysis for siting; site-planning principles; and the survey camp.

CO5CO6

Course outcomes

What you should be able to do after completing all five units (CO1–CO6, from the syllabus).

Understand

Describe and apply the principles of chain surveying and levelling, including reduction of levels and contouring.

Apply

Perform theodolite-survey techniques to measure angles, set out, and convert bearings.

Apply

Demonstrate contouring methods and read a contour map for slope and gradient.

Analyse

Use modern methods — total station, GIS, LIDAR and photogrammetry — for surveying.

Analyse

Conduct site analysis and planning, considering accessibility, site characteristics and climate.

Understand

Apply site-planning principles and the site-analysis diagram in architectural design.

Three units carry a live calculator — reducing a level book, converting a bearing, and finding the gradient between contours. The diagrams are original Studio Matrx work. They build intuition for the field, but confirm real survey work with a licensed surveyor.

Image credits

Every photograph is a verified Creative-Commons or Public-Domain work from Wikimedia Commons, used with attribution. The hand-drawn diagrams are original Studio Matrx work.

Kraft Wien level (5687) — Gampe, CC BY-SA 4.0
Tacheometric surveying with Vega TEO-5 2024-06 — Maxinvestigator, CC BY-SA 4.0
A student using a Theodolite in field — Kskhh, CC BY-SA 4.0
Topographic map of Mesa Verde National Park - Montezuma County, Colorado LOC 2012586900 — Geological Survey (U.S.); Marshall, R.; Tatum, Sledge; Berry, Richard W.; Ecklund, C, Public domain
Contour terrain of Aditnálta — Kitwalkerr, CC BY-SA 3.0
Topographical Map of Washington Showing Various Contour Lines - DPLA - 6e1e68997737cbc640af6153fc37557a — U.S. War Department, Public domain
Geodetic survey instruments 03 — LubGua987, CC BY-SA 4.0
Assembling the drone (40885086903) — Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0
Land resource regions and major land resource areas, Mississippi LOC 92684971 — U.S. Soil Conservation Service, Public domain
Doddabommasandra Lake urban interface Bengaluru residential area aerial — Vraj Acharya, WELL Labs, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bocage country at Cotentin Peninsula — Unknown author, Public domain
Bouw voetgangerstunnel voor Centraal Station Amsterdam, Bestanddeelnr 934-7141 — Herbert Behrens / Anefo, CC0
INT. METALEN MEETLINT (PART. COLL. C.J. ROMEIJN) - Naarden - 20311802 - RCE — Gerard Dukker, CC BY-SA 4.0
A new generation of industrial leaders (8756741875) — DFID - UK Department for International Development, CC BY 3.0
Town of Bageshwar, Uttarakhand, India in the evening — Harshit SR, CC BY-SA 4.0

Measure it, then read it.

From the chain and the level to the total station, and from the contour to the site-analysis diagram. Read the five units, drive the calculators, then test yourself.

Open Unit I Back to Students

Studio Matrx is a tribute to Amogh N P. The curriculum is free, forever.