Traverse Closure and Adjustment
Latitude and departure misclosure, relative precision, and compass-rule adjusted coordinates.
Example
You enter
- Courses azimuth (deg) 0, distance 200, and 3 more
- Start N 0
- Start E 0
You get
- Sum dep 0.1
- Linear misclosure 0.1
- Perimeter (ft) 999.9
- Relative precision denominator 9999
Checked against published worked examples from: FM 5-233 Construction Surveying (by name).
Details, formula, and sources
Formula or tablePer course Lat = dist*cos(azimuth), Dep = dist*sin(azimuth); misclosure components = sum Lat, sum Dep; linear misclosure = sqrt(sumLat^2 + sumDep^2); relative precision = perimeter / misclosure (1:N); Compass (Bowditch) correction per course = -(course_length / perimeter) * (that component).
Source and editionTraverse latitude/departure, linear misclosure, relative precision, and the Compass (Bowditch) rule adjustment per FM 5-233 Construction Surveying and the standard surveying references, by name; public-domain and first-principles.
Free accessFM 5-233 is public-domain US Government work, free at US Army publication archives. The field procedure, instrument calibration, and the surveyor of record govern the record traverse.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field namescourses, n0, e0, sum_dep, linear_misclosure, perimeter_ft, relative_precision_denominator
- Adjustment method Compass (Bowditch) rule; the transit rule and least-squares are alternativesFM 5-233