Source: HIGHER SURVEYING

By: Juny Pilapil La Putt

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. PHOTO SCALE PROBLEM. The exposure station in the accompanying figure is 3048.00 m.
above mean sea level. The elevation of A is 76.20 m., and the elevation of B is 288.60 m. If the
focal length of the camera used is 153 mm., calculate the following:
a. photo scale at A c. average scale of the photograph
b. photo scale at B d. datum scale

Solution to problem “a”

Since it requires the scale of point A only, we will use the formula of Point scale.
𝑓
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
𝐻 − ℎ𝑝
1𝑚
153 𝑚𝑚 1000 𝑚𝑚 0.153 𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑝 = =
3048 𝑚 − 76.20 𝑚 2971.8 𝑚
To express the numerator as 1, divide the upper and lower value by the value of the numerator.
0.153/0.153
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
2971.8/0.153
1
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
19,423.53

Solution to problem “b”

Same process as to the above problem but this time its point B.
𝑓
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
𝐻 − ℎ𝑝
1𝑚
153 𝑚𝑚 1000 𝑚𝑚 0.153 𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑝 = =
3048 𝑚 − 228.60 𝑚 2819.40 𝑚

To express the numerator as 1, divide the upper and lower value by the value of the numerator.

0.153/0.153
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
2819.40/0.153
1
𝑃𝑆𝑝 =
18,427.45
 Source: HIGHER SURVEYING
By: Juny Pilapil La Putt
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Solution to problem “c”
Since it requires average scale, the formula that we will use is:
𝑓
𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
𝐻 − ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒
First we need to compute the average elevation of A and B
ℎ𝐴 + ℎ𝐵
ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
2
76.20 + 228.60
ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
2
ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 152.40 𝑚.
Now that we already have the average elevation, we can now solve the 𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒
1𝑚
𝑓 153 𝑚𝑚 1000 𝑚𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒 = =
𝐻 − ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 3048 𝑚 − 152.40 𝑚
0.153 𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
2895.60 𝑚
To express the numerator as 1, divide the upper and lower value by the value of the numerator.
0.153/0.153
𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
2895.60/0.153
1
𝑃𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
18,925.49

Solution to problem “d”

𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 (𝑃𝐷)
𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 (𝑃𝑆) =
𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝐼𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 (𝐺𝐷)
We will consider f as photo distance and H as ground distance
𝑓
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
𝐻
153 𝑚𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
3048 𝑚
1𝑚
153 𝑚𝑚 1000 𝑚𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
3048 𝑚
0.153 𝑚
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
3048 𝑚

To express the numerator as 1, divide the upper and lower value by the value of the numerator.
0.153/0.153
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
3048/0.153
1
𝑃𝑆𝑀𝑆𝐿 =
19,921.57
 Source: HIGHER SURVEYING
By: Juny Pilapil La Putt
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. PHOTO SCALE PROBLEM. The horizontal distance between two points on the ground was
measured as 1,575.00 m. If the corresponding line measures 15 cm on a vertical photograph,
determine the scale of the photograph at the average ground elevation of the line.
𝑃𝐷
𝑃𝑆 =
𝐺𝐷
15 cm
𝑃𝑆 =
1,575.00 m
1m
15 cm 100 cm 0.15 𝑚
𝑃𝑆 = =
1,575.00 m 1,575.00 m
0.15/0.15
𝑃𝑆 =
1,575.00/0.15
1
𝑃𝑆 =
10,500

3. PHOTO SCALE PROBLEM. On a vertical photograph the length of a drainage canal

measures 16 cm. on a map which is plotted to a scale of 1:25,000, the canal measures 10 cm.
Determine the scale of the photograph at the elevation of the canal.
For the photo we have:
𝑃𝐷
𝑃𝑆 =
𝐺𝐷
𝑃𝐷
𝐺𝐷 =
𝑃𝑆
For the map we have:
𝑀𝐷
𝑀𝑆 =
𝐺𝐷
𝑀𝐷
𝐺𝐷 =
𝑀𝑆
Combining both equations we have:
𝑃𝐷 𝑀𝐷
=
𝑃𝑆 𝑀𝑆
𝑃𝐷 𝑀𝑆
𝑃𝑆 =
𝑀𝐷
1
16 𝑐𝑚 25,000
𝑃𝑆 =
10 𝑐𝑚
16 𝑐𝑚 1
𝑃𝑆 =
10 𝑐𝑚 25,000
16
𝑃𝑆 =
250,000
16/16
𝑃𝑆 =
250,000/16
1
𝑃𝑆 =
15,625
 Source: HIGHER SURVEYING
By: Juny Pilapil La Putt
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. GROUND DIMENSIONS PROBLEM. In problem 3 above, if a parcel of land measures 4.50
cm by 2.10 cm on the photograph, calculate the approximate ground dimensions of the parcel
and its area. (Dimensions in meters and Area in Hectares)
1
From the previous problem 𝑃𝑆 = 15,625

The problem ask for ground dimensions, so we need to get the corresponding ground
measurements of the given photo measurements.
Let, 𝑙 = 4.50 cm = photo length
𝑤 = 2.10 cm = photo width
𝐿 = ground length
𝑊 = ground width

𝑃𝐷 𝑙
𝑃𝑆 = =
𝐺𝐷 𝐿
𝑙
𝐿= = 𝑙 𝑃𝑆𝑅
𝑃𝑆
𝐿 = 4.50 𝑐𝑚 15,625
1𝑚
𝐿 = 70312.50 𝑐𝑚
100 𝑐𝑚
𝐿 = 703.125 𝑚.
𝑃𝐷 𝑤
𝑃𝑆 = =
𝐺𝐷 𝑊
𝑤
𝑊= = 𝑤 𝑃𝑆𝑅
𝑃𝑆
𝑊 = 2.10 𝑐𝑚 15,625
1𝑚
𝑊 = 32812.50 𝑐𝑚
100 𝑐𝑚
𝑊 = 328.125 𝑚.

Area of Rectangle = Length x Width

𝐴= 𝐿 𝑊
𝐴 = 703.125 𝑚. 328.125 𝑚.

𝐴 = 230712.891 𝑚2
1 ℎ𝑎
𝐴 = 230712.891 𝑚2
10,000 𝑚2
𝐴 = 23.071 ℎ𝑎.