How do I Station my Total Station?

What is "Stationing"?

Stationing is the process where the total station calculates, or determines, its coordinate location on a jobsite. Through a calculation of distance and angle measurements, the head unit gives itself a coordinate in relation to the other digital points and CAD elements on the tablet.

On the home screen, you will see a "Stationing" icon.

When a green check mark is above the icon, your total station is currently stationed and applications that require a stationing can be completed:

When a red exclamation point is above the stationing icon, it means that you are not stationed and a stationing must occur before certain applications can be done with the software:

When a yellow triangle with an exclamation point appears, it means that a stationing on the current project had occurred in the past and is saved in the software. You have the option to use that station again (if you are confident it is accurate), or, you can simple re-station at your convenience.

What are the Stationing options within HCL?

 There are four key stationing options within HCL that are common with all Hilti Total Stations:

1. Control Point Stationing - the total station measures control points and identifies its position in relation to those measurements. This is typically the most common method to set up a total station and requires point coordinate information to be imported into the tablet.
2. Control Line Stationing - the total station measures 2 intersecting control lines in the field that correlate to the same control lines from an imported CAD file on the tablet. This method is common if control points are not available and the control lines provided on the jobsite are accurate.
3. Reference Line Stationing - this is common when there is no CAD file or point file in the tablet and the end user is working with a blank project. Reference Line Stationing allows the user to use an established line in their work area as a reference (arbitrarily creating a 0,0 coordinate in their digital work file), whereby the total station will establish its coordinate location in relation to that line. The user can then measure additional objects in their workspace, which will also be given coordinates in relation to that line.
4. Free Stationing - this is common when an end user wants the total station to establish an arbitrary coordinate in space so that they can begin measuring objects in their work area. They likely do not have any control points or reference lines they can use to establish a jobsite-specific coordinate system. Users that use free stationing are likely performing an as-built survey of an area that they intend to align or analyze digitally later.

There are also two additional stationing options that are specific to the POS 150 or POS 180, which is an older optical total station, known as "Over Control Point" stationing and "Line over Point" stationing. These options allow the user to identify in the software the exact coordinate they have placed the total station on. They then simply measure a backsight point of their choosing that identifies the total station's orientation on the jobsite. This is not an option for PLT 300 or PLT 400 total stations.

Which Stationing option is the most accurate?

Accuracy in stationing completely depends on the end user. All options can be accurate, all options can also lead to errors. Accuracy depends on various factors.

The below articles can help if you are trying to determine the best stationing set up:

1. Accuracy Help Topics
2. Securing Total Stations on Jobsites
3. Control Point Set up Best Practices
4. Recommended Prisms and Targets based on Range