| Where Are Those Pesky Pipes? | | | | equipment most useful to utility surveyors in |
| Whether above ground or beneath it, municipalities | | | | aboveground applications includes GPS surveying |
| need to know where utilities are located. This is | | | | systems, total stations (which stand in for the old, |
| true when installing water, sewer, electric, gas, or | | | | non-electronic surveyor transits), digital levels, and |
| communications lines, and it is even more | | | | a wide selection of mapping software. |
| important once those lines have been in place for | | | | Below the Ground |
| some time. When laying out residential or | | | | During the installation process, the location of |
| commercial districts, surveyors are called upon to | | | | what will eventually become underground utility |
| accurately mark where each respective utility line | | | | lines is clearly marked on a series of maps. These |
| should run. Later on, construction and excavation | | | | maps come into play whenever subsequent work |
| projects require the precise location of existing | | | | needs to be done in the area. Whether a sewer |
| utilities to prevent damage and also allow for | | | | needs cleaning, a gas main warrants checking for |
| follow-on connectivity. While a map can be quite | | | | leaks, or a water pipe has burst, utility workers |
| useful to help narrow down a spot where a gas | | | | require accurate knowledge of the location of |
| line should be, it's always a good idea to engage a | | | | utility assets. There are certain standards that |
| surveyor to know exactly where you should plant | | | | each utility follows. For example, all underground |
| that new maple tree. | | | | facilities are measured to their center point or |
| Above the Ground | | | | centerline, where the size of the structure is also |
| Utility companies are usually government-run or | | | | indicated. As an example, the line on a map that |
| private/public entities operating under some sort | | | | traces a water pipe follows the center of that |
| of regulation. The utility infrastructure generally | | | | pipe. A notation at regular intervals, or a key that |
| consists of two types of assets-what is above | | | | may be color-coded, will indicate that the pipe in |
| the ground and everything that is below it. The | | | | question has a diameter of 20cm. This means |
| former would include things like electrical | | | | that anyone digging more than 10cm either side |
| substations and power transmission lines, gas | | | | of that line will miss hitting the pipe. Because many |
| wellheads, telephone or other utility poles, and | | | | of the buried utility lines are made of metal or |
| manhole covers for sewer systems. While it is | | | | have metal components, magnetometer devices |
| hardly a challenge to identify the exact location of | | | | are extremely useful in determining the exact |
| a transmission tower-the 30-meter-tall steel | | | | location of an underground course. Once a utility |
| lattice-type structure and long, saggy wires is | | | | surveyor determines the path of an existing line, |
| usually a dead giveaway-the presence of a utility | | | | he or she will mark the location with spray paint, |
| surveyor was certainly necessary to determine | | | | ribbons, or staked flags. Many communities in the |
| the initial placement of that tower and how far | | | | world have standardized their utility markings, |
| apart each tower could be situated. Utility | | | | where electric is red, sewer is green, water is |
| surveyors work closely with engineers to set out | | | | blue, communications is orange, and gas or oil is |
| utility grids so that the maximum amount of | | | | yellow. In this manner, anyone transferring from |
| spatial coverage can be achieved with a minimal | | | | one municipality to another will not mistake one |
| amount of pipes, wires, and so on. Some of the | | | | type of utility line for another. |