Integrating low-cost RTK positioning services with a web-based track log management system

Location-based collaborative platforms are proving to be an effective and widely adopted solution for geo-spatial data collection, update, and sharing. Popular collaborative projects like OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia, and other services that collect and publish user-generated geographic contents have been fostered by the increasing availability of location-aware devices. These instruments include global positioning system (GPS)-enabled phones and low-cost GPS receivers, which are employed for quick field surveys at both professional and nonprofessional levels. Nevertheless, the data collected with such devices are often inaccurate. To alleviate this drawback, an integration of modern web technologies and online services with an advanced positioning technique is implemented. A web-based prototype for quality-based data selection of GPS tracks, managing track logs and point of interests is integrated with the goGPS software. This combined system applies the principle of real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning to low-cost single-frequency receivers. The workflow consists of acquiring the raw GPS measurements from the user’s receiver and from a network of GPS stations, processing data by RTK positioning through the goGPS Kalman filter algorithm, sending the accurate positioning data to the web-based system, performing further quality enhancements, and logging and displaying the data. Tests were performed in open areas and various dense urban environments, comparing the results obtained by standard GPS devices and by goGPS RTK positioning. Results were promising and suggest that the integration of web technologies with advanced geodetic techniques applied to low-cost instruments can be an effective solution to collect, update, and share accurate location data on collaborative platforms.