Traditional excavator batter shaping involves the use of survey batter rails that have been built at regular cross-section intervals to demonstrate the design batter slope. These batter rails are used by on-the-ground grade checkers who eye through them to keep the excavator bucket on-grade.
Equipping an excavator with GPS guidance allows an operator to view design reference under the bucket tips. Subsequently, neither the traditional batter rails nor the grade checker is required when utilising GPS guided excavators in bulk earthworks.