{"id":271,"date":"2017-06-08T13:39:56","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T12:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/?p=271"},"modified":"2017-06-08T13:39:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T12:39:56","slug":"surveying-and-mapping-science-at-newcastle-stage-1-field-course-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/2017\/06\/08\/surveying-and-mapping-science-at-newcastle-stage-1-field-course-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveying and Mapping Science at Newcastle – Stage 1 Field Course – Part 1 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blog_header_ambassador_tim_hajda_sms\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During the Easter holidays, the Stage 1 Surveying & Mapping Science and GIS students went on a field course to the Seathwaite Valley in the heart of the Lake District.\u00a0 It was a challenging and rewarding eight days that brought together all of the theory acquired in lectures and practicals and applied it in a real world setting.\u00a0 This series of blogs will share some of the highlights from the perspective of a surveying and mapping science student.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fourth day of the field course and it\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019re already at the halfway point!\u00a0 I\u2019m writing this blog from the Glaramara House, our hotel which is serving as our base for the duration of the fieldcourse.\u00a0 We arrived at Glaramara on Thursday morning after a scenic two-and-a-half hour coach ride from Newcastle.\u00a0 The setting is stunning: a pastoral valley of green fields; dry stone walls and streams; surrounded by craggy fells; waterfalls and oak forests.\u00a0 Our mission for the field course is to create a detailed map of the valley, but first we need to lay the foundations by creating a control network.<\/p>\n

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Practising setting up targets in front of the Glaramara House, our base for the field course.<\/p><\/div>\n

Shortly after arriving at Glaramara, we donned our high-vis and waterproofs to undertake our first task: brushing up on the surveying skills we\u2019d be using over the next eight days.\u00a0 The valley is famous for being the wettest inhabited place in England, and it\u2019s definitely living up to its reputation.\u00a0 After a soggy afternoon of measuring angles and levelling, we dried off and enjoyed what would be the first of many delicious dinners.\u00a0 A pint from the hotel\u2019s bar was the perfect way to celebrate a successful first day.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a>

A pint was much appreciated after a long day in the field.<\/p><\/div>\n

The next morning, we enjoyed a full English breakfast before beginning our next task: establishing the primary control stations throughout the valley.\u00a0 We were divided into teams and taken by minibus to our assigned locations.\u00a0 Using total stations, we spent the day measuring the angles and distances between points.\u00a0 We would be using this data later to compute the coordinates of the stations.\u00a0 The blustery weather was a challenge, especially looking back to the relatively easy practical\u2019s we did at Town Moor back in Newcastle, but we persevered.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s assignment was to determine the height of points around the valley using spirit levelling.\u00a0 Simple enough…or so we thought.\u00a0 My team quickly realized that those lovely green fields were essentially giant mud pits and the stone walls an endless maze to navigate through, but it was a great feeling when we arrived at our last benchmark.\u00a0 Another job finished and I\u2019ve never been more grateful for a hot shower!<\/p>\n

Today the GIS students have joined us and we\u2019ll be going out in teams to create secondary control networks around the valley.\u00a0 It looks like it\u2019s going to be a beautiful day, better bring along the sun cream!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the Easter holidays, the Stage 1 Surveying & Mapping Science and GIS students went on a field course to the Seathwaite Valley in the heart of the Lake District.\u00a0 It was a challenging and rewarding eight days that brought … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6273,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uggeomatics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cegstudents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}