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UER Forum > Archived UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > mapping techniqes (Viewed 323 times) Wabbit  Location: Twin cities, Minnesota Gender: Male Go Silly Rabbit!  |  |  mapping techniqes < on 6/16/2004 6:39 PM >   Aside from an above ground map, graph paper, compas, protractor. What else would you guys recomend for mapping in tunnels, drains, etc. Although it's nearly impossible to get measurements exact, one thing I recomend is marking walls with sidewalk chalk. It works perfect in drains, becasue as soon as the next decent rainfall comes, it'll be gone. Just make sure you mark it as low as possible on the wall, or if It's dry, the floor. -UW -wabs phae-girl  Location: Ottawa Canada  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 1 on 6/16/2004 8:35 PM >   How about a total station? Seriously though, it depends on how precise you want things to be. Distances can be chained off with a 100' tape and some chalk. Angles could be eyeballed with a compass. I don't know if the needle would work underground, but you can get a relative change in angle by backsighting down from where you came, then rotating the dial to roughly where you're going. A surveyors field book is also a nice thing to have when you're doing this sort of thing. If you're *really* into precision, a total station setup will rent for under $100.00 a day. Don't drop it though. -d Duke  Noble Donor Location: Awww-shitby, Ontario Gender: Male Move it or lose it  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 2 on 6/16/2004 8:45 PM >   There's something I wanted to make for mapping tunnels and large buildings. Eseentially I wanted to program mapping software for my gameboy which would allow me to add or subtract rooms to an auto-map sortta display using simple button commands, allowing me to easily map as I walk. The only problem then becomes semi-accurate measurement. I figured moving in roughly 10' increments should be accurate enough for most locations but i'd have to add the ability to fine tune it. There was also a device I saw my friend's landlord use, used a laser to give you the size of a room, just had to slap it on a wall and push a button. That would come in handy for SURE. Contrary to popular belief, death isn't just for dead people. I know I was surprised too! It can happen to anybody! Horses, fiddler crabs, even a potato can die! - Tick Wabbit  Location: Twin cities, Minnesota Gender: Male Go Silly Rabbit!  |  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 3 on 6/16/2004 8:54 PM >   you can get those lazer line tape measures for like 30 to 40 bucks at the home depot, or similar store. I'm just concerned about the "fog" that's down there, sometimes it gets pretty thick, and the laser might not be accurate. I'de hat to spend 30 bucks on something I can't use. -wabs Duke  Noble Donor Location: Awww-shitby, Ontario Gender: Male Move it or lose it  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 4 on 6/16/2004 9:22 PM >   See most tunnels have a fairly regular placement of lights or SOMETHING that can be used as a refferance point. If it's too foggy for a laser I'd measure the distance between them and just count them as I walk. Of course, if I'm gonna do that anyway I may as well just use a tape measure.... Contrary to popular belief, death isn't just for dead people. I know I was surprised too! It can happen to anybody! Horses, fiddler crabs, even a potato can die! - Tick phae-girl  Location: Ottawa Canada  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 5 on 6/17/2004 12:26 AM >   What kind of distances are you thinking about measuring? What's your budget? For much less than a total station, you could use a consturction level and pick the distance from the stadia hairs. This would also give you an idea what kind of elevation changes are happening, and you can turn angles with it. -d Farrix  Location: Alberta Gender: Male  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 6 on 6/17/2004 9:02 AM >   GPS where you can plot waypoints? PDA? ~shrugs~ statik  Location: colorado There has got to be more to life than just being really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking.  |  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 7 on 6/17/2004 9:20 AM >   Why not just make one of these? c=(3.14)d None more black.. MacGyver  Location: St Paul, Minnesota Gender: Male "Someone go find me a paperclip, a D-cell battery, and a cheese grater"  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 8 on 6/17/2004 1:11 PM >   Depending on what kind of environment you're in underground, a compass can either be worthless or perfectly fine. In drains, the walls a filled with a grid of reinforcing rod, making what is essentially a magnetic shield that screws the compass up majorly. In bare, unlined, unpiped sandstone caves and mines, a compass almost works better than it does on the surface, where you have to deal with cars, steel doors, fire hydrants, etc. as for distance, there are several options. Pacing is the most obvious, but it's accuracy varies greatly on the floor conditions. Another way is to leapfrog two people with a piece of low-stretch string a specified length. You could also try to use one of those electronic rangefinders (like someone mentions above) but the accuracy might be off, and you would need a large piece of cardboard or something for it to get a fix on. If you're aboveground and relatively exposed to the outside world, GPS is the obvious choice. Like a fiend with his dope / a drunkard his wine / a man will have lust for the lure of the mine "If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent." Caveman6666  Location: NY  |  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 9 on 6/17/2004 3:25 PM >   How about the actual map? Depending on the location, they can be had from city building or zoning departments, and in many cases are public record. Sometimes a look can be sweet-talked out of construction, architectural, or design firms. Libraries may have them too. Just be ready with a story about a research project or something. Yet another unoriginal generic UE website. GODDAM! Wabbit  Location: Twin cities, Minnesota Gender: Male Go Silly Rabbit!  |  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 10 on 6/17/2004 7:30 PM >   GPS, doesn't work underground, no satalite LOS. -wabs MacGyver  Location: St Paul, Minnesota Gender: Male "Someone go find me a paperclip, a D-cell battery, and a cheese grater"  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 11 on 6/17/2004 11:24 PM >   that's, what, I said. Like a fiend with his dope / a drunkard his wine / a man will have lust for the lure of the mine "If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent." Krenta  Location: Saint Paul, MN Nope, wasn't me.  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 12 on 6/17/2004 11:50 PM >   Some public works departments are thoughtful enough to spray-paint markings on the wall of drains every hundred feet, which makes mapping much, much easier when you're heading in a straight line for a mile or more. See, every once in a while the city does something I approve of with my tax dollars. Have Speed Graphic, Will Travel. Arrow  Noble Donor Location: Minneapolis Gender: Male  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 13 on 6/18/2004 12:26 AM >   Posted by Urban Worm you can get those lazer line tape measures for like 30 to 40 bucks at the home depot, or similar store. I'm just concerned about the "fog" that's down there, sometimes it gets pretty thick, and the laser might not be accurate. I'de hat to spend 30 bucks on something I can't use. Those don't actually use lasers. I have one like that, and it has a laser, but it's just to let you know what you're aiming the sonic rangefinder at. Range is 50' max, but you need a mssive flat surface to bounch the sound off of at that range. I'm intending to design & build a long range rangefinder + compass + automatic storage of entries tool this summer for a large mapping project I have in mind. If that goes well, I'll probably try to publish my results somewhere. FatRat  Location: Oslo, Norway Gender: Male How to fix ANYTHING!  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 14 on 8/26/2004 4:01 AM >   A very cheap and easy way to keep track of long distances when you're walking, is a bead pace counting cord. You can make a pace counter yourself for next to nothing, or you can buy a really cheap and way cool one here: http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4c.tam?xax=12628&M5COPY%2Ectx=20393&M5%2Ect x=20393&M2%5FDESC%2Ectx=Distance%20Tracking%2C%20Range%20%26%20Bearing%20Instruments%2C%20Life%20Dete ctors%2C%20Weather%20Meters&level3%2Ectx=level3c%2Etam&BC3%2Ectx=GPS%2C%20Compasses%2C%20Range%20Find ers%2C%20Radios&BC4%2Ectx=Distance%20Tracking%2C%20Range%20%26%20Bearing%20Instruments%2C%20Life%20De tectors%2C%20Weather%20Meters&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Flevel3c%2Etam And the road goes ever on... Macsbug  Noble Donor Location: St. Paul, MN Gender: Male Safety First!  |  |  Re: mapping techniqes <Reply # 15 on 8/26/2004 6:28 AM >   Did nobody say this already, but if you are a drainin, and it is an RCP (or sometimes even if not) you can measure the distance of each section of pipe, and just count how many you go through. Also, for drains, which is what it sounds like you are looking to map, it will be basically straight, which shouldn't be a problem to map, and any curve will not be too hard to figure out the angle of, a compass (math type, not NSEW) and some string could do it fine. Caves and stuff would be trickier, esp. with changes in elevation which aren't simply up and down. "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." UER Forum > Archived UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > mapping techniqes (Viewed 323 times) All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire. To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield This page was generated for you in 140 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 741179582 pages have been generated.