How do you read a land survey rod?

"land survey rod" could mean a few different things, since various types of rods are used in surveying.





I will guess that you are talking about a rod made of wood or fiberglass, 6 feet or more in length, possibly of the telescoping variety, with collapsable sections, which may be up to 25 feet long when all the sections are fully extended, and which is marked with lines and numbers on the front side.





Such a rod is held in place by one person, the rodman, and read by another person, the instrument operator, who looks at it through the telescope of a surveyor's level, which has crosshairs, just like a rifle scope, and the operator then typically records the reading where the crosshairs cross the rod, writing down the number indicated by the line marked at that point on the rod. This process is known as differential leveling. There are other more complicated ways of using such rods to determine elevations, but this is the most common manner in which they are used.





Hope this is helpful to you, you may contact your local surveyor if you would like a more detailed explanation or a demonstration. Many surveyors are glad to provide demonstrations, particularly for students.