FIG. 7. SYMBOLS USED ON CHARTS OF THE BRITISH HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE.
FIG. 8. TRIANGULATION OF A BAY, SHOWING LOCATION OF SURVEY SIGNALS AND LANDMARKS.
Triangulation. The main framework of the survey consists of a series of triangles connecting prominently located points which are permanently marked in the ground and the location described so that they can be found at a future time. At long intervals in the survey base lines are laid out and carefully measured with steel tape. Signals are erected over the points, including those at the ends of the base line, and angles are then measured at the various stations. From the measured length of the base and the angles the lengths of the sides of the triangles are computed, and from these lengths and the latitude and longitude of one point the latitudes and longitudes of all the other points are obtained. When several astronomically determined points are connected by such a triangulation a complication arises from what is known as "deflection of the plumb line," which is the angular amount by which the actual sea-level surface of the earth departs from the symmetrical figure of revolution, owing to the variations in the density of the earth's outer layers. The distance between two points as measured by triangulation thus differs from the distance computed from the astronomically determined positions. If this irregularity were not taken care of by adopting mean positions, the discrepancy in joining up different surveys would in extreme cases amount to about half a mile.
FIG. 9. TRIANGULATION STATION AND SIGNAL, ON ALASKA COAST.
FIG. 10. MEASURING ANGLES WITH THEODOLITE AT TRIANGULATION STATION ON ALASKA COAST.