Handheld surveying device and method

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention describes a handheld surveying device using satellite navigational or similar positioning technology and a dead reckoning (DR) system.
The handheld device eliminates the need for a range pole and provides accurate position information.
In one embodiment, the device is embodied in a handheld housing which includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a DR system; a digital level and heading device for determining the level and heading of the handheld device; a pointing device that enables the user to point the handheld device to the location to be measured; and a measuring device to measure the distance between the handheld device and the location to be measured.
The GPS receiver may be a real time kinematic (RTK) GPS receiver.
Using the handheld device, the pointing device is used to point to the location to be measured.
The measuring device measures the difference between the location of the measuring device (computed using GPS and/or DR measurements) and the location pointed to that is to be measured.
The digital level and heading device provides data for correction of position information due to the orientation of the handheld device.
By incorporating these elements into a handheld device, the need for a range pole is eliminated.