Level staff

A graduated rod held vertically at a survey point so a level can measure its elevation relative to a reference point. Its scale lets a surveyor read the height difference between the staff point and the instrument’s horizontal line of sight.

Connect

Levelling: A surveying method for determining differences in elevation between points. A level staff supplies the readings used to calculate those elevation differences.
Surveying: The measurement and mapping of positions, distances, and elevations on or near Earth’s surface. Level staffs are tools used to measure elevation in surveying.
Differential leveling: A surveying procedure that determines elevation differences through a sequence of level and staff readings. It is the standard method in which the level staff transfers elevations between points.
Self-reading staff: A graduated surveying staff whose scale is read directly through the instrument telescope. It is the common design for ordinary optical leveling.
Automatic level: A surveying instrument that establishes a horizontal line of sight with an internal compensator. Its sightline is read against the staff graduations.
Benchmark (surveying): A fixed reference point with a known elevation used to control surveys. A staff reading from a benchmark anchors the elevation calculations.
Profile leveling: A survey method that measures elevations along a line to show the ground’s vertical shape. Repeated staff readings map elevation changes along routes such as roads and pipelines.
Target staff: A leveling staff fitted with a movable target that an observer aligns with the instrument’s sightline. Its target aids long-distance readings, unlike direct readings from ordinary graduations.
Staff reading: The value read on a graduated staff where a surveying instrument’s line of sight intersects it. This is the direct measurement taken from the level staff.
Datum (geodesy): A reference surface or framework used to define positions and elevations. Staff-derived elevations are meaningful only relative to a chosen datum.