Most people have heard of GPS; we all know that it has something
to do with providing instant coordinated location via some
advanced equipment, because in today's market, the hottest
phones,
and PDAs come with GPS capability.
What few people are aware of is that there are quite a few
grades of GPS rover equipment which offer different levels
of GPS capability at each grade. Thus, sometimes there is
a mismatch of equipment and positioning needs.
Here is an overview of each GPS equipment grade to help you
select the right equipment for your budget and positioning
needs:
| GPS Equipment Categories |
Characteristics |
| Recreational Grade |
Small, lightweight, handheld design
Records waypoints, does tracking & routing, navigation
Displays maps & navigation
Horizontal accuracy is between 5-40 m
Costs US $100-$1500
|
| GIS/Mapping Grade |
Rugged Handheld/backpack design
Collects attributes + accurate GIS level data
Exports data in various GIS formats
DGPS capable (realtime/Post processing)
Horizontal accuracy with DGPS is <1m
Costs US $2000-$11000
|
| GISurvey Grade |
May act as a reference station/static or kinematic
receiver.
Collects single frequency (L1) data
Utilizes base station/CORS collecting carrier phase
data.
Centimeter level Horizontal accuracy
Cost ranges between GIS grade and Survey grade equipment
|
| Survey/Geodetic Grade |
Components include Receiver, Controller, and Geodetic
Antenna
Collects dual frequency GPS data
Realtime code or realtime kinematic data collection
Very high Horizontal & vertical accuracy (sub-centimeter)
Costs US $20000 =<
|
More details are available through here.
Or you can ask for more information from the SiReNT helpdesk.
|