NCEES MCQ Surveying 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An EDM instrument is calibrated with an additive constant of +8 mm. A measured slope distance of 1,245.372 m should be corrected to:
- 1,245.364 m
- 1,245.380 m (Correct answer)
- 1,245.364 m
- 1,245.382 m
Correct answer: 1,245.380 m
A positive additive constant means the instrument over-reads; add the constant to the measured distance: 1,245.372 + 0.008 = 1,245.380 m.
Question 2: In a level circuit, the sum of backsights minus the sum of foresights should equal:
- Zero for a closed loop
- The benchmark elevation
- The difference in elevation between start and end points (Correct answer)
- The allowable misclosure
Correct answer: The difference in elevation between start and end points
ΣBS – ΣFS equals the net change in elevation from the starting point to the ending point of the level run.
Question 3: Which map projection preserves shape (angles) locally but distorts area?
- Albers equal-area conic
- Lambert conformal conic (Correct answer)
- Cylindrical equal-area
- Azimuthal equidistant
Correct answer: Lambert conformal conic
The Lambert conformal conic projection is conformal, meaning it preserves local angles and shape, but distorts area away from the standard parallels.
Question 4: A right-of-way monument is found to be 0.15 ft east and 0.08 ft north of its record position. The total positional error of the monument is approximately:
- 0.17 ft (Correct answer)
- 0.18 ft
- 0.23 ft
- 0.13 ft
Correct answer: 0.17 ft
Total error = √(0.15² + 0.08²) = √(0.0225 + 0.0064) = √0.0289 ≈ 0.170 ft.
Question 5: In the State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS), zones with a predominantly north-south extent use which projection?
- Mercator
- Lambert conformal conic
- Transverse Mercator (Correct answer)
- Azimuthal equal-area
Correct answer: Transverse Mercator
Transverse Mercator is used for SPCS zones that are narrow in the east-west direction (tall, north-south extent).
Question 6: A contour line that closes on itself within a map sheet, with no indication of a depression, most likely represents:
- A valley
- A ridge or hill summit (Correct answer)
- A saddle point
- A uniform slope
Correct answer: A ridge or hill summit
Closed contours that do not use depression hatchures indicate a hill or elevated feature whose summit lies within the closed contour.
Question 7: The term 'orthometric height' is best defined as:
- Height above the WGS84 ellipsoid
- Height above the geoid (mean sea level) (Correct answer)
- Height measured along the plumb line to an arbitrary datum
- The ellipsoidal height corrected for atmospheric refraction
Correct answer: Height above the geoid (mean sea level)
Orthometric height (H) is measured along the curved plumb line from the geoid (approximated by mean sea level) to the point of interest.
NCEES MCQ Surveying 4
An EDM instrument is calibrated with an additive constant of +8 mm.
A measured slope distance of 1,245.372 m should be corrected to: