Objectives
The aim of the topography course is to present the main aspects of metric surveying and the characteristics of Italian cartography. Therefore, the essential concepts of geodesy and cartography, the operating principles and the quantities that can be measured with classical topographic instrumentation and satellite positioning systems are illustrated.
Course program
Geodesy - the reference surfaces of the topographic survey: geoid, ellipsoid, geodetic field, topographic field. The orthometric altitude, the ellipsoid altitude. Ellipsoid geographic coordinates and geocentric Cartesian coordinates. Local and global geodetic reference systems. Traditional and numerical cartography - the problem of representation. The types of cartographic representation. Linear, angular and surface deformation modulus. Gauss's representation. Geodetic use of the Gauss map. Cartographic systems and official Italian cartography. Description of raster and vector digital cartography formats. Raster format: structure and type of files; vector format: geometric primitives, attributes. Management of numerical cartography and geodetic reference systems in a QGIS environment. Classical surveying instruments - the theodolite: general description of the instrument; the grinding conditions of the theodolite; instrument setup; conjugated readings. The level: general description of the instrument; operating conditions of the level; geometric leveling. Pulse and phase distance meters: general description of the instrument; measurement methods. GNSS systems - the GPS satellite positioning system. Positioning principles. The structure of the signal. Phase and pseudorange measurements. Errors in measurements and their precision. Absolute and relative positioning. Static and kinematic positioning modes. RINEX file structure. Notes on the GLONASS and GALILEO positioning systems
Evaluation methods
The final exam consists of a written test and an oral test. The written test consists of two numerical exercises which aim to verify the skills achieved by the student in the processing of cartographic information and simple topographical surveys. The oral test is aimed at verifying the maturity reached by the student in the treatment of the theoretical and practical concepts addressed during the course. Separate oral and written test
