Principles of Survey Error Analysis and Adjustment

During the planning, field measuring, and adjusting of a survey the question of its accuracy is of critical importance because it affects the survey configuration and the necessary field measuring accuracies, and consequently the cost and execution time of the survey. The first purpose of this article is to present the general principle of error theory and briefly introduce some very useful tools for evaluating the accuracy of a survey. The second purpose is to analyze the necessity and general principles involved in adjusting a survey, and establishing the reliability of the adjusted values obtained. Finally, we present a brief list of references for more complete coverage of the subjects reviewed in this article.