Emlid Studio QOL Suggestions

Hi @svetlana.nikolenko @anna.moloko ,

A little background into some of our field procedures. When we are surveying secondary control stations for PPK, we would set up the base station, then our field staff would go to each control station and set up the rover. They would leave it running for 20-30mins, log the time the receiver boots up and the name of the control station. Turn it off and repeat this for as many control stations as necessary. So I would acquire 1 large Base data log and several smaller Rover logs. I then use Emlid Studio to get coordinates for each control station.

Here are some of the QOL Suggestions I was thinking about:

  1. In the Edit Antenna height menu, it would be great if we could have an option to save commonly used antenna heights. It is a minor pain to keep typing in the same pole height each time.

  2. In the settings I can select “All Solutions” or “One Best”. Would it be possible to have a both option? I normally choose All Solutions just to get a sense of the quality of the work and see if I need to ignore a satellite system, then if I am happy I reprocess for the One Best and use that coordinate. It is just doing the same processing over, with a both option I wouldn’t have to do it over and I can reduce the time spent waiting for it to reprocess.

  3. At the bottom of the plot window it shows the range of time the rover was active but it shows time began - time ended. It would be lovely if it could also show the time in hours minutes seconds as well, rather than me having to do that calculation.

  4. You can add another .pos file as another layer in the plot window, would it be possible to add more than just one. This is helpful to compare the result of multiple setting configurations and see how that affects the results.

  5. Typically in programs that use tabs, as you do in the the plot window, middle click closes the tab. Would be nice to include this in Emlid Studio.

  6. Having the Enter Key close the Antenna Height Menu or the Settings Menu would also be great.

All of these are minor additions, the software is good without them but I think these changes would be pretty nice to have, for me at least :smiley:

PS. I think I may have also found a graphical bug. If I try to resize the left panel while the program is processing the left panel ‘resets’. The progress bar disappears and the blue “Process” button returns. Emlid Studio appears to be doing nothing but it is actually processing and creating the .pos file. However the process button doesn’t work after that and I have to close and reopen the program to do any more processing.

Hopefully my suggestions are useful to others or to the Emlid team.

Thanks again for making such great software and hardware at affordable prices, you guys/gals are the best!

6 Likes

What are you mounting your base on? Everything we use is 2m and there’s never a reason to plug in anything else.

1 Like

In my case the base isn’t the issue, we have a network of metal poles with 5/8" threads at the top all across the island that we use typically so the base height usually is zero. As for the rover we have different poles that it can be mounted on for different scenarios.

Every time I load in a new rover file the antenna height reverts back to zero. It would be quite nice for it to keep the previous height and/or give me a pull down list that I can add/edit. That way it’s a point and click as opposed to having to type it each time which can be prone to user error.

It is a minor thing though, it would just be nice.

1 Like

Yeah we use uneven height poles that accept the 5/8" puck used on Topcon base stations as semi-permanent base station on all of our jobsites and you can put whatever number you want the first time and as long as you repeat it each time you use it there’s nothing to type in. I haven’t measured a base height in at least 15 years.

2 Likes

Nice, same here, we have a permanent network of bases all around the island. So usually one is nearby as it is a small place. Base heights are almost always zero locally. But when we travel we don’t have that luxury, so we take the poles with us, which we know the heights of each one and enter it in accordingly.

2 Likes

Hi Robin,

I love your suggestions :heart_eyes: They are so precise, I can tell you work with Emlid Studio a lot!

I’ll pass them all to the team, and we’ll consider adding them.

Regarding the bug you found, I’ll try to reproduce it. Can you share what platform and Emlid Studio version you work with?

1 Like

Hi @svetlana.nikolenko ,

I have been using it quite a bit recently! It is absolutely brilliant for a free program!

As it is free, I understand why the more complicated GNSS features in other programs aren’t present, I know eventually you will include them and become the one software to rule them all! I am patiently waiting until then!

I am using Win 10 and Emlid Studio 1.2

Then, you have really sharp eyes!

Thank you for your warm feedback. Such words inspire us a lot!

Got it. I’ll check it out.

Hi @svetlana.nikolenko ,

Here is one other suggestion.

When you choose One Best output solution, the .pos file shows the time of that solution as the beginning of the observations which is inaccurate. If I choose All Solutions, I can find that observation same in the list of all solutions and it would have a different time.

Example:
From One Best Solution

2022/08/27 11:48:37.400 13.082190307 -59.533436109 32.2341 1 24 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0000 -0.0000 0.0000 -0.00 277.0

From All Solutions

2022/08/27 12:06:08.000 13.082190307 -59.533436109 32.2341 1 24 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0000 -0.0000 0.0000 -0.00 277.0

The First Solution in All Solutions

2022/08/27 11:48:37.400 13.082190306 -59.533436111 32.2343 1 16 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0000 -0.0000 0.0000 -0.00 107.5

As you can see the One Best Solution .pos file just takes the time of the first solution. It would be great if the one best solution reflected the actual time of the best solution.

Maybe it’s ultimately unnecessary, just something I have noticed.

1 Like

Hi Robin,

Yep, looks illogical. I’ll check with the team if there is any reason we do it like this or is it a bug.

Thanks for the report!

1 Like