Kinematic GPS Land Survey—Description of Operational Test and Results

Abstract

A kinematic GPS (Global Positioning System) survey was performed by the National Geodetic Survey to determine the feasibility of using the method operationally on some geodetic surveying projects. The method of the experiment is described, and results from two GPS data reduction packages are presented along with results of a terrestrial survey performed on the same network of stations. Operationally oriented discussions of the kinematic method., project planning and execution, and suggestions for future kinematic software and hardware are included. The antenna swap method of determining integer biases is described. The survey demonstrates that with little modification of equipment or software, it is possible to implement kinematic surveying as a standard mode of operation on many NGS (National Geodetic Survey) projects. The results of the survey indicate that with station occupation periods of 2 min the repeatability of base line vector components determined by kinematic methods will be subcentimeter.