Surveying and why? Question Posed by Chris Finn Managing Director at Perth Surveying
My personal preference has always being for Lieca. But bear in mind that I’m not running other makes down—it is all about one’s personal taste and with what are you more comfortable, are you happy using, and of course which one gives you the better service—machine and sales/service personnel.
It is much akin to choosing a motor vehicle. Where a lot of people go for smart, fast, fancy cars with expensive name brands like BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, etc., I look at Toyota, just as smart, fast, and fancy, but for me living in the Northern Cape (semi-arid region, more sparsely populated than the rest of SA), it make for the most economic sense when it comes to initial purchase price, after sales service, periodic services and maintenance , and spares, not to mention the availability of service centers. In fact I’ve heard the same said by off-road enthusiasts about preference of vehicles for touring African countries further north of South Africa—makes sense?
Well, the same criteria should come into play when choosing any equipment with a large price tag.
But let me relate my experience when it comes to choice of theodolites, and why my personal preference leans toward Leica.
In my earlier years on the mines I started off using the old classic instruments—the time when electronic theodolites were only on every ones “wish list”. Since the introduction on to the market of electronic theodolites, and subsequently total stations, I have had the privilege of working with several of them: Sokkia, TopCon, Leica, to name a few, but the one with which I was always the most comfortable was the Leica, the instrument and the software.
As a result, when I arrived at Pike River Coal for my brief working experience in New Zealand, I was happy to discover they had a leica total station, the TPS1200+. But when I wanted to use the instrument, it wouldn’t start up properly. I contacted the Leica Representative in NZ, and he picked the machine up and had it checked at their workshops in Auckland where they discovered the motherboard inside had blown (No one knows how the previous surveyor got that right?!)
The instrument had to be sent to Switzerland to the Leica Headquarters for the replacement of the MB to be done. The whole process—collecting the instrument from Pike River in Greymouth, transporting to Auckland where it was first checked, flying it out to Switzerland for replacement of the MB, flying it back to Auckland, and delivering it back to Pike River—was completed with in one and a half months. A good achievement when one considers that between Auckland and the Switzerland Head Quarters in Heerbrugg third party carriers had to be used. Service wise, I’m satisfied. Even for the rest of my stay in New Zealand, every time I called, the agent was there.
As for the instrument itself, (like my Toyota) it didn’t let me down once after it came back. Being the only surveyor on the mine at that time, I had to do everything on my own—carry all the equipment myself, set up the back sight prism, set up the front site prism, then set up the instrument itself, and then at completion of each survey pack every thing back and load it back into the “Ute”. Due to this I opted for an upgrade to a “Robotic System “ which can be done with the TPS1200+.
I was required to perform a closure survey on a previous survey carried out from the start of the mine tunnel to the vent shaft 2.5km away. Due to the location of the Mine being in the Paparoa Mountain Range on the South Island of NZ, a National Maori Heritage Site with numerous constraints like prohibitions for the Building of road ways, access paths, etcetera, and the terrain being steep mountain sides with tall trees, no GPS survey was possible.The only means of transport to the vent shaft was by helicopter, which was used for all construction work of the vent shaft. After careful consideration of all options I decided the best way was for me to extend the survey from the vent shaft (situated to the West of the portal) further up West to the edge of the escarpment overlooking the Vent Shaft and from where I had the best if not the only clear view back down the Pike River Valley to a “bench” in the side of the mountain just above the portal a distance of just over 3Km.
I set up a prism battery (a holder containing three prisms placed in a horizontal line, making it easier for EDM’s to measure to) on top of the bench. I then set up the total station on top of the escarpment (almost on the very edge of the 1000m cliff—the only ground free of heavy shrub and undergrowth) and sighted down to the prism battery below. This was not a straight forward task, as the mist kept coming over and surrounding me, and then clearing where I was only to continue moving down the valley. Thus to get a clear shot to the prisms 3Km away with out any mist interfering with the beam was a major accomplishment on it’s own. The result was that I successfully completed the survey, and reported that the tunnel that was being developed up through the mountain to intersect with the vent shaft would hole with the shaft 300mm off centre—which I’m pleased to say did happen!!
On another occasion I successfully and accurately completed a survey of a pipeline at the portal of tunnel. While I was busy with the survey, it started to rain—lightly at first, then harder, and then the rain turned to snow. Through it all I completed the survey, taking EDM readings to prisms, (once more all on my ownsome) and the instrument, covered in wet and snow, continued to perform well!
So, when ever I look for an instrument, I look for Leica—I hope Leica are going to compensate me for this free advertising?
Just to put the record straight though, the above is my experience with Leica, and I am happy to continue with them when I can, though where I’m working at the moment I don’t have a say, and am using a Trimble machine.
There are several other makes out there, with various models, and one needs to look at all the angles as I mentioned above, not forgetting the after sale service. Bare in mind too that things can differ from region to region. The Leica rep. in New Zealand was very help and prompt, but a new man in NZ or else where may not have quite the same attitude, though the other factors —company, equipment etc.—are still the same.
