Hi all.
I have been living in “Trimble planet” for more than 20 years. Since I´m living in “Emlid world” just 3 weeks ago, I´m adapting to the workflow with my new REACH RS2.
It would be a very useful option choosing the way Reach View give us Z coordinates (heigths). All heigths are ellipsoidal, but getting local sea level heigths for my projects would be a great improvement. (like it used to be in Trimble planet 
)
A question for REACH-RS2 users, How do you handle this issue?
regards
Personally I handle it by connecting to a Trimble Juno SC over bluetooth to the RS2 and launch Fieldgenius on the Juno. Here I use a local coordinate system and datum loaded into Fieldgenius.
Hi Cesar,
Option to choose the way Reach outputs height might be indeed very useful. Therefore we already have this feature on our roadmap for the future releases.
In the meantime, you could try external software for Android such as Mobile Topographer that allows choosing between ellipsoidal and geoidal heights.
Thanks for your answer. I´ve been trying many Android soft, but there is not a foolproof solution yet.
Thanks for you answer. Gonna try a demo of Fieldgenius for Android.
That’s probably your best bet for Android tablets…but it’s VERY new, so be ready for bugs and missing things from their full Windows versions. I use a old Trimble Nomad 900G data collector with old Windows mobile 6.1 on it…but prefer my Surface Windows 10 setup when not rainy conditions.
You can get rugged tablets also for both Windows and Android. I think the MicroSurvey website can point you in the right direction.
Excited to hear how this goes!
Hello!
I also have been looking for an solution to have ortometric Z data with my Rs2. Following the discution…
I use a web free web service to transfer ellpsiod heights into DHHN2016 (Germany) during post processing. My post processing tool does that automatically with the help of Selenium. An Ascii file could be used too.
By hanging into a trigonometric point next to the survey area I think I can neglect the difference between the WGS84 and ETRS89 ellipsoids.
But I think the whole topic of getting coordinates with absolute submeter accuracy is quite complex and someone with no surveying background will have need to invest some significant effort to develop a good workflow with this cheap receivers.
Buying a Leica for 16,000 € might be still an option if one does not want to invest the time but does need the accuracy.
Well, until future Reach-View improvements, I think that the solution is to design a workflow in a GIS soft (ArcGis Tool or Python script in QGIS) that allows me to create the orthometric heigth and the UTM coordinates fields. It is not difficult.
regards!
I just ordered a Trimble Juno SC with FieldGenius to use with my RS2. Your post is very encouraging that this actually works! I’ve heard other people say that this works as well. I’m really looking forward to geoidal heights, uploading staking plans, using surfaces, etc.
You really don’t need the geoid if you are planning to localize. All the localization does is assign a GPS coordinate to each of the control points you choose to locate and include in your localization. You are then on ground elevation. I setup a custom export for my GCP’s for the drone that are lat/lon and ground elevation instead of GPS height. For survey points you are just exporting the usual YXZ, but because they are localized they relate. I just prefer to keep the drone data in WGS84 because that is what it collects in.
Michael what do you use to collect data? Are you using the ReachView app? I’ve still never been able to collect GCPs with an Emlid unit without post processing. I’ve use NTRIP but if I export anything collected on the unit it never fits into my CAD files. I know the points are WGS84 and my CAD files are state plane. Believe it or not I’ve read a lot on this and still struggle really hard. I’m more of a dirt work guy than a surveyor but I’ve been doing my best to figure it all out. Just bought 2 RS2 units so I can static collect base while collecting GCPs with rover and post process all of it. I’d love to know how you’ve been doing this successfully. I see your posts a lot and seems like you have this dialed in. I use this for sports field and golf course development with Pix4D, Virtual Surveyor, Civil 3D, AgTek.
Most of the time I use Topcon Hiper V’s and Magnet, but only because I couldn’t rely on the ability of the RS+ receivers I have to work in a reliable fix from day to day. Even when I did get them to work (using FieldGenius) the accuracy of the localizations were not up to par. This should not be the case with the RS2 receivers. They should function the same as the Topcon gear so I hope to be able to purchase a couple soon.
Localization is the key to what you and I are doing (1) because we need ground elevation, but also because you cannot rely on a direct transformation from WGS84 to your State Plane coordinates in most cases. The difference between plats and actual conditions plus the opportunity for things like shifts and scale factors in the CAD data make it almost unusual for us to ever achieve a true 1:1 transformation.
Michael, is there anyway to use ReachView with localization? I have a Trimble unit with FG being shipped my way but wanted to check.
Reachview itself doesn’t have localization, but you will still use it to setup the RTK and Base Mode settings. Once that connection is started then you can connect to the rover in FieldGenius.
I assume the Trimble unit is the data collector? What model?
10-4. Much appreciated. The unit is a Trimble Juno SC and the only reason I got that one is I read people having success using it with the RS2. We have some HiPer V units but we share them with other parts of the region and I can never hang on to one long enough so hopefully the RS2 plus data collector will help fill that void. It would be really awesome if I could use this RS2 in a similar fashion with the data collector. I have 2 of the RS2 units for base/rover but I’m hoping to use them with NTRIP individually as well. I post process in ONPOZ/EZSurv but we’ve been having issues with the RS2. Problems with the onboard UBX to Rinex conversion (L2 data dropped during conversion), missing epochs (at same time), missing L2 carrier phase for some satellites (missing GPS and Beidou constellations, Galileo and Glonass seemed ok).
Same here. I have a Hiper-V kit and although we are local to Central Texas I can never seem to keep them with me. My RS+ kit has been relegated to drone use so I want an RS2 kit asap!
Does Trimble Juno SC works with “Pathfinder Office” software? The problem with this handheld device is Windows emebebed, very slow. I don´t know why Trimble don´t incorporate a “Android” alternative in it´s devices.
Because the big boys think business needs “Windows”. Same with Topcon. They need to quit dickering around and get Android Data Collectors and Machine Control Screens…
