Glossary¶
The words the program and this guide use.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Alignment | The line a From coordinates route runs along, joined from its centre-line points. Chainages are measured along it. |
| Average End Area | A volume between two sections: the mean of their areas times the distance between them. See Volumes. |
| B.S. (back sight) | The first staff reading after setting up the level, on a point of known R.L. |
| Balancing level | The formation level at which a site's cut equals its fill. |
| Bench mark (BM) | A point of known R.L.; the field book starts from it in row 2. |
| Berm | A level step in a side slope (on a canal bank, a bund or a cutting). |
| Boundary | The area a contour job's volume is worked out in: points coded as the boundary, or drawn on the plan. |
| Breakline | A line the surface may not cross, along the points of one code (a drain, a bank top), so no triangle cuts across it. |
| Chainage | The distance along the route, in metres. The screens write it as 45000, and as 45/000 or 45+000 (45 km and 0 m) where it is printed. |
| Change point (CP) | A staff point read twice: an F.S. from one set-up and a B.S. from the next, carrying the R.L. on. |
| Cut | Earth to be dug out: where the design is below the ground. |
| Design route | A route of template levels along the chainages of a field book. |
| Extends to / measured against | The series a layer's area is worked out against (the bund against the stripping, a road layer against the one under it). |
| F.S. (fore sight) | The last staff reading before moving the level. |
| Factor | The number the gross volume is multiplied by for the net volume (1.10 on embankment allows for consolidation). |
| Field book | A route of levelling readings, worked out to R.L.s at each chainage and offset. |
| Fill | Earth to be brought in: where the design is above the ground. |
| Formation level | The finished level a site or a road is brought to. |
| FSD | Full supply depth of a canal. |
| From coordinates route | A route made from total station or GNSS points (N, E, R.L., code), worked out to chainages along an alignment. |
| H.I. (height of instrument) | The R.L. of the level's line of sight: R.L. + B.S. |
| I.S. (intermediate sight) | A staff reading between the B.S. and the F.S. of a set-up. |
| Interval sections | Sections every so many metres on a From coordinates route, with levels interpolated from the survey. |
| Long section | The route along its length: ground and designs against chainage. |
| Mass haul | The running total of cut minus fill along the route (the mass ordinate), drawn as a curve. |
| NSL | Natural surface level: the ground as surveyed. The first series in every project. |
| Offset | The distance across the route from the centre line, in metres: minus to the left. |
| Prismoidal | A volume method that also uses the area midway between two sections; closer than Average End Area where the section changes shape. |
| R.L. (reduced level) | A point's level above the datum, worked out from the bench mark. |
| Route | One sheet of the Routes workbook: a field book, a design, or a From coordinates route. |
| Section | The cross section at one chainage: every series' points across the route. |
| Series | One line in the cross sections (NSL, a design, a layer), with its own colour and settings. |
| Side slope | The slope from a template's edge down (fill) or up (cut) to the ground, written as horizontal : vertical. |
| Template | The shape of a design across the route: a canal, road, bund, railway or drain, or one drawn point by point. |
| Template layers | The layers of a template (subgrade, GSB, WMM, ballast…), each drawn as its own series. |
| TIN | Triangulated irregular network: the surface made of triangles joining the surveyed points. |
| Zero line | Where cut meets fill on a site. |