A total station is an electronic/optical instrument used in modern surveying and building construction that uses electronic transit theodolite in conjunction with electronic distance meter (EDM).It is also integrated with microprocessor, electronic data collector and storage system.
The instrument is used to measure sloping distance of object to the instrument, horizontal angles and vertical angles. This Microprocessor unit enables for computation of data collected to further calculate the horizontal distance, coordinates of a point and reduced level of point.
Data collected from total station can be downloaded into computer/laptops for further processing of information.
Total stations are mainly used by land surveyors and civil engineers, either to record features as in topographic
surveying or to set osut features (such as roads, houses or boundaries). They are also used by archaeologists to record excavations and by police, crime scene investigators, private accident Reconstructionist and insurance companies to take measurements of scenes.