What surveying instrument would measure the vertical and horizontal (azimuth) angles from the instrument to a target? Is this a “transit”, or does a transit just sight along a level line? Is it a “theodolite”? Or, what are those two things for?
Who sells useable instruments that do this, for cheap?
Who are vendors for somebody who wants to try a little amateur surveying for fun? I’m hoping for mail order vendors with a web presence.
I am a UK surveyor (well, was)… some basic information on the instrument:
The thing we call a theodolite is, I believe, called a Transit in various other parts of the world. It is designed to measure vertical and horizontal angles between two points. Old fashioned theodolites used etched glass circles in the two planes, modern ones use electronic systems. A Total Station is a modern electronic theodolite incorporated with an Electronic Distance Measurement system (EDM). This uses infra red to measure the distance to a reflective prism.
As I am in the UK, and you I believe are not, I can’t give any information on where to obtain these instruments. Modern Total Stations are expensive, £15,000 is a typical price for a top of the range Leica instrument for instance. For a bit of amateur experimentation, an older optical instrument could perhaps be obtained relatively cheaply, but you don’t often see them at car boot sales for instance.
Oh, and the instrument which simply measures difference in level is called, unsurprisingly, a Level… or a dumpy level (older and cheaper) or an automatic level (more foolproof to use). They are much cheaper than a theodolite.
Hope this helps, feel free to ask for any more information.
I can’t imagine there is much of an “amateur surveyor” market. It’s a pretty serious business. Ebay has lots of stuff
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