Category Archives: GNSS/Location Tech
Understanding GNSS Pt. 2
Vertical Datums Part 1 covers ellipsoids, datums, and realizations and is in the April print issue. This final part covers vertical datums. From my previous article: One of the most important things to understand when it comes to using survey-grade GPS systems is the difference among the many datums, reference ellipsoids, and coordinate systems that...
ArcGIS Indoors
What is it, and how will it work? Mapping has traditionally been the task of visually charting big outdoor spaces with pretty hills that look great with a few contours around them. Throw in a bit of hillshade, and you have a cartophile’s dream. The location intelligence company Esri, that has driven the market to...
The Bullet
Looking past an unfamiliar form factor reveals hidden strengths of a unique and capable high-precision GNSS field system. I’ll cut straight to the punchline: this little unit performed as well as many of the high-end (and pricier) GNSS rovers I’ve tried, both as a base-rover pair and as a network rover. And I had way...
Understanding GNSS Pt 1
Image above: The author performs deformation monitoring on a Colorado reservoir with a Leica TS15. Pt. 1: Ellipsoids, Datums, and Realizations Land surveying is one of the oldest professions to exist throughout the world. Evidence of its use can be found dating as far back as 2700 BC when the Great Pyramid of Giza was...
GPS Week Rollover – Don’t Panic (Update 3/28/19)
Updated March 28th, 2019: Unavco, the science cooperative that supports such projects as the Earthscope PBO GNSS and geophysical senor arrays, has launched a comprehensive WNRO page that addresses many of the receiver types they have deployed and includes some of their own tests. Updated March 26th, 2019: Trimble and Topcon have added updates to...
Fergus Noble
Co-founder & CTO, Swift Navigation California, USA The three co-founders of Swift Navigation—Colin Beighley, Timothy Harris, and Fergus Noble—all are under forty years old and all deserve a place in our Outlook selection. By using the highly scientific method of a series of coin flips, we have chosen to profile Fergus Noble, but actually this...
