“When I am surveying, I want to include everything in the survey in one pass. How do I do this without having lines going where they shouldn’t be?”

We all remember the first time we surveyed out in the field in college or perhaps the first day with a GNSS Rover on a training course. The boundary joined to the gate, the gate joined to the man-hole and we had to edit all the lines when we went back to the office, having to recollect what line was an actual string and what was not.

Thankfully, we have come a long way from this and the software we use today has improved even more. It has considered these minor problems, anticipating how it can be streamlined for ease of use and producing more defined surveys.

A great example is one of the little-known elements of X-PAD surveying software - the Multi-code feature.

How to use Multi-code feature in X-PAD

There are 2 types of multi-code: Line - Point and Line - Line.

Line - Point Multi-code

The software is setup so that you cannot choose point and line codes simultaneously from the codelist. In this case you need to know the name of the code and type it into the code field. It will then attach both codes to the point and display whichever code is first in the code field. You can get the name of the code from the codelist, it is usually just 2 letters, e.g. WE=Weld, WC=Water Connection

Figure 1: Line - Point Multi-code, Watermain with welds & connections

Line - Line Multi-code

When surveying boundaries a typical scenario is surveying a fence in which there is a gate. You can just leave a gap for the gate, but to get a complete survey, or if someone else is completing the AutoCAD element of the survey, you need to indicate if there is just a gap or if there is a gate. This is easily done using the Multi-code functionality in X-PAD.

Other uses: A rail or fence on top of a wall, a fence which changes to a hedge/wall or vice versa

Figure 2: Fence with gate

Is Multi-code functionality worth it

The advantage of having this functionality is that it allows for a cleaner survey and reduced time taken to execute the task. While using these functions you minimise the time spent editing a survey in AutoCAD and, like I mentioned before, don't have to try remembering what points joined.

If you have the same issues, it doesn’t take long to iron them out and the little tweaks to old habits can make a huge difference in your presentation of work and bringing in the efficient lean techniques we can teach you.

If you have a survey question you want to ask or something that you don’t quite understand, why don’t you post it to us and we'll include it in our FAQ section with the answer for everyone’s benefit. You can leave a comment on our Facebook page or email your question to info@hitechniques.ie

Roch