Tilt compensation in 3rd party software?

Reach RS3 Hardware integration
1

Is the tilt correction functionality dependent on the software of my field controller?

If so, which 3rd party software can collect data with the tilt compensation?

Is there a hardware/software compatibility list somewhere?

2

Hi! Welcome to the forum.

Tilt compensated position can be shared with 3rd party receivers in 2 alternate methods.:

  1. For 3rd party software such as 12D Field and Microsurveyā€™s Field Genius which fully support RS3ā€™s tilt compensation, you can manage everything inside the 3rd party app, such as setting pole height. This is the most desirable pathway as you do not need to jump back into Emlid Flow to set the pole height. NB. I am not aware of the full range of softwares that support this pathway. There are a few and probably Emlid have a list somewhere in their comprehensive online like here maybe: Contents | Reach RS3

  2. For other software that does not provide for this level of integration, you can set the pole height using Emlid Flow and simply output the tilt corrected position (for example as an NMEA string via Bluetooth). In this way, any 3rd party software capable of consuming an external position string can benefit from the precise and reliable tilt corrections the RS3 delivers.

NB. With pathway 2, you will need to take care to go back to Emlid Flow to adjust the pile height any time it changes, as pole height is critical even for horizontal accuracy when calculating a tilt-compensated position.

If using an Android tablet, is it possible to mock the GPS location so that every app in the tablet is consuming the external position data.

I hope this info is helpful for you, and others reading this post.

Happy Easter!

Cheers, Al

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3

Thank you for the in-depth reply!

I will need to find an easy-to-use solution because my crews will be using it and not myself.
I havenā€™t heard of 12D Field. I will check that out.

4

I will need to do some research to see if this is functionality is available in Field Genius for
Android or if it is only available in Windows.

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5

FG available for both Android (STILL work in progress) and Windows. Windows complete with robotic total station support, except Trimble (unless you use a VERY old version).

You might want to ask Emlid and Microsurvey about the link below though:

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6

You might want to look here, unfortunately all is not rosy with FGA at the moment. Hopefully it will get back on track: RS3 Tilt support dropped in FieldGenius

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7

Thatā€™s a shame to read. Hopefully Emlid and Microsurvey can get it sortedā€¦

Meanwhile, itā€™s great to see the continual growth of survey workflow capability in Emlid Flow. Perhaps one day soon Field Genius will be redundant?

Now the following bit is loosely related and is what we Aussies call ā€˜pub talkā€™ - it would be great if Emlid produce a Total Station!

I had one surveyor come up to me at a recent survey expo (FIG Woking week in Australia) and happily tell me he loves his Emlid gear so kuch that his company (with multiple survey crews) no longer use their Trimble GNSS gear at all! He then said that all he needs is for Emlid to produce a total station!

Complex and lower volume so a much bigger commercial challenge - hence my labelling this idea as Pub Talk (something discussed over a beer that is unlikely to materialise).

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8

As of 4-2025, FGA has dropped the tilt for RS3 units untill they get some things sorted out with Emlid. I am on the Beta test platform an exchange emails about every 4-6 weeks to get current status. They had hope for a fix by Feb 2025, but no such luck.

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10

If Emlid would produce a Total Station and upgraded their Flow software to include it along with basic COGO functions, Iā€™d be all-in! (even a ā€œmanual tsā€ mode would be amazing)
I really like the Reach RS2+ and Iā€™d love to replace our Total Stations with a similar product.

Iā€™d really like to see some COGO in Flow soon so I can use it as an all-in-one app for GNSS Surveying.

11

I reached out to MicroSurvey about tilt compensation with the Reach RS3. Below is their emailed response:

FieldGenius for Windows does not.

FieldGenius for Android is working on some updates to support this, weā€™re hoping to have this in a release soon.

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12

Agreed - I reckon an ā€˜Emlid Total Stationā€™ would revolutionize the end-user experience and with their focus on intuitive UX, further democratise precise positioning!

Meanwhile, have you checked out the inverse and traverse functions in Emlid Flow +Survey? I have a short video explaining some of that capability, in an applied context, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-y3g8iThNk&t=2s

FWIW, Whilst this may not be every COGO function you need, based on Emlidā€™s history of continual improvement I would expect these capabilities to be expanded upon in future versions of Emlid Flow +Survey.

13

Hi @Surveyor1!

I see @alistair already answered your primary concern. Thanks to all of you guys for the replies! Let me chime in with some info that might come in handy.

I can confirm what others said about Field Genius. We are in talks with them to resolve the issues. Once we have more information, Iā€™ll let you know.

I am afraid we donā€™t have plans for Total Station, but I passed the idea to the developers.

About the COGO functions. Do you have any specific ideas in mind that can help you? It helps us understand what users might want to see.

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