What is 'alidade' 🧑‍🔧

Warm greetings, my friend! The goal of this page is to clarify "What is 'alidade'" by addressing common misunderstandings.

Did you know the short answer is…

An instrument for topographic surveying and mapping by the plane-table method. Also: Any sighting device employed for angular measurement.

The alidade is the part of a theodolite that rotates around the vertical axis, and that bears the horizontal axis around which the telescope turns up or down.

In a sextant or octant the alidade is the turnable arm carrying a mirror and an index to a graduated circle in a vertical plane.

Let’s start by reviewing a few questions people ask:

Alidade

What is alidade in plane table surveying...

A plane table alidade is a straight edge with some form of sighting device. Two types of alidade are used in plane table surveying, they are plain alidade and telescopic alidade. Types of Alidade in plane table surveying 1.Plain Alidade

What is alidade...

With modern technology, the name is applied to complete instruments such as the plane table alidade . An example of an alidade on a circumferentor. Taken from the Table of Surveying, Cyclopaedia, Volume 2, 1728 The word in Arabic ( الحلقة العضدية al-ḥilqa al-ʿaḍudiyya, "the ruler"), signifies the same device.

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