​This course will help you understand and apply the theory of least squares adjustments as applied in surveying to traverse and network adjustments and analyses. 
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It and its material were written and originally provided by Dr. Robin R. Steeves of BitWise Ideas, Inc., author of GeoLab. The material is now available, free of charge, for you to use and go through at your own pace.

Course Description

This course covers the theory and practice of least squares adjustments, and their analyses, as applied to surveying and geodetic networks and traverses of various types. Introductory and advanced theory are covered with examples of practical applications, providing hands-on learning. 

This course is self-guided and the material is provided for your benefit, to aid you in your understanding of these concepts as they relate to surveying and least-squares adjustments and their application within GeoLab.

The major topics covered in this course are as follows:

  • Introduction to Statistics

  • Random Error Theory

  • Statistical Testing

  • Propagation of Errors

  • Introduction to Matrices

  • Principles of Least-Squares

  • Observations

  • Conditions and Constraints

  • Nonlinear Equations and Taylor’s Series

  • Normal Equations and Residuals

  • Adjustment Calculations and Analyses

Important: Attendees are responsible for having the required education and experience in surveying, mathematics, and various technologies, to understand the content of this course. 

Course Requirements

You are responsible for acquiring a copy of the following textbook prior to starting this course:
”Adjustment Computations - Spatial Data Analysis", fifth edition, by Charles D. Ghilani, 2010, ISBN 978-0-470-46491-5

You will also need to download the following course resource package, which contains special files and tools needed for this course:

TheoryCourseResources.zip.001
TheoryCourseResources.zip.002
TheoryCourseResources.zip.003

Download all three of these files, place them in the same folder, and use your preferred file archiving program to unzip/extract the .001 file.

You are now ready to start the course!