How can I easily and accurately perform a small-scale landscape survey?
Option #1:

Find a few objects (house, trees, etc.) that, together, allow at least one of them to be level line-of sight from anywhere in the yard.

Tape a laser pointer on the end of a level (taped so you can use the level as a sort of monopod resting on the ground).

Move around the yard, hold the level level, and point the laser at one of the objects. 3a. Have someone at the object use a measuring tape to record the measurement. 3b. Subtract the length of your level.

Once you have all of your measurements, figure out the elevation offsets of the objects in relation to one another and offset measurements against them accordingly.


For example, in this diagram from Practical Engineering's YouTube on land-surveying, the human can be replaced with a level with a laser-pointer on the top. Then &quot;measured height&quot; is the measurement at your object (step 3a); the &quot;eye line height&quot; is the height of your spirit-level (step 3b); subtract the spirit-level from your measured height to get the the &quot;relative height&quot; (step 4)

Option #2:
Use a photogrammetry program like PhotoModeler (http://www.photomodeler.com/) to combine photographs taken using a tripod and a digital camera from different vantage points. Of course, these apps are incredibly expensive, probably cost more than the gadgets you mentioned. Unless you happen to already own a license to one of the AutoCAD products that gives you access to AutoDesk's photogrammetry app, ImageModeler 2009 (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=11390028&amp;siteID=123112).