Hi Emlid,
I’d like to put forth what I consider a much needed feature request. The software has come along way but each update my hope for one of the main features I think a RTK data logger software should have is found to be still missing.
The newest firmware and Reachview3 version has removed the majority of “manual base position entry” coordinate formats.
We are now solely limited to latitude, longitude and ellipsoid height in WGS84 geodetic format.
The past additional options such as cartesian WGS84 coordinates, made it easier to enter the coordinates from reading off another device, such as a survey controller. This however is only a small complaint as the real issue here is to do with needing to manually enter the base coordinates.
Ideally, manually entering the base position by typing it in, isn’t favorable in the first place. When positioning the base over a known mark / coordinate, manually entering the coordinates leaves too much room for potential user error. It also requires the extra step of converting the coordinate from its source coordinate system to WGS84 so that is can be entered in the required format. Generally certified marks are recorded in local datums, not WGS84.
My proposal is that when on the survey page of the Reachview3 app and an imported point or measured point is selected, there is a button on the properties panel of that point to set the coordinates as the base coordinates. Doing so copies the “geographic coordinates” already listed in the points “info page”, over to the base manual position page and allows the user to just set the taped height of the receiver above that location. You can assume when doing this the currently connected receiver is the base.
Implementation of this should be reasonably trivial, as the survey page /tab of the software already does the required coordinate conversions from project datum to WGS84 geodetic, and the ability to import points into the survey page of the app already removes the need for a way to get the coordinates into the app, we just need to be able to go one step further and be able to transfer those coordinates into the setup of the base receiver.
I should be clear that I know about the “base shift” feature but I don’t believe it to be the correct way to handle this, as we shouldn’t need to use average single or float in any circumstance when we are already have the base setup over a known coordinate. The way I’m describing implementing this is no different to what we already have access too from all other products from Leica, Trimble, Javad, Tersus etc and in my opinion is one of the main shortcomings of using Emlid as it pushes operators towards bad surveying practice.