From the Iowa DOT website…
“The Iowa Department of Transportation is in the process of implementing a statewide, high-precision gobal positioning system (GPS) referencing network. The goal is to provide a system that will improve the efficiency and accuracy for all GPS users and meet or exceed the Iowa DOT’s requirements relating to accuracy, precision, reliability, and scalability. Any authorized user, whether from the private or public sector, using a late-model, survey-grade, single – or dual-frequency rover equipped with a cellular modem or data-capable cell phone will receive near-instantaneous GPS satellite corrections anywhere in Iowa. “
What does this mean to the rest of us? Well, this network is supposed to be operational by December 1st and we really won’t know a whole lot more until then. I will be one of the first to do testing on this network working with Trimble, so I should be able to get some good hands on information. This network isn’t going to be broadcasting anything from the actual location, but rather the correction information will be put on an IP address on the internet, so we can use cell modems to get the information from the internet to the GPS receiver on our equipment. One other option is called rebroadcasting, which entails hooking a radio to the internet with a high speed connection and broadcasting this correction information to another radio hooked to the GPS receiver.
This has been a pretty hot topic of conversation, so feel free to post questions here as there are several others that may have the same questions, and I will do my best to answer them. Below is a picture of the intended locations for the network.
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