NOAA's National Geodetic Survey recently announced the approval and release of a document titled "National Geodetic Survey User Guidelines for Single Base Real-Time GNSS Positioning." The guidelines provide definitive criteria to achieve various specific tiers of precision, with high confidence, using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Due to the plethora of variables associated with Real-Time (RT) GNSS positioning, a consistent documented approach for using this technology to best advantage was lacking. In preparing this publication, thousands of pages were researched to evaluate, refine, and compile comprehensive information into an integrated form, thereby ensuring the most practical and reliable methodologies were developed for high-precision work.

RT GNSS positioning is rapidly becoming the favored method for obtaining centimeter-level coordinates and will continue as a dynamic technology, due to advances in hardware and software, additional GNSS constellations, and new signals available to the user. These guidelines will be updated as these developments affect RT procedures and data.

The new document fills a void that exists for RT GNSS positioning practitioners in two ways:

Provides unbiased background information necessary for RT users in the field
Provides specific procedures and criteria to achieve 95% confidence with RT results

It is anticipated that the background information and best methods promoted in this document will become standard reading to help professionals achieve accurate, consistent, and reliable data for their work.

The guidelines may be found at www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/NGSRealTimeUserGuidelines.v1.0.pdf.

For additional information, contact William.Henning@noaa.