Help choosing device for specific purpose.

[otcoeng]

Hi, new member here looking to draw on your knowledge.  First off, I know NOTHING about GPS devices.  Our Road & Bridge department would like to use GPS to locate all our drainage culverts throughout the county.  Would like the highest accuracy possible and should simple to use.  It does not need a lot of bells and whistles, we are just marking locations and will download into Google Earth Pro.  Seeing all the options out there gets real confusing, real quick.  What unit would you recommend?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Shannon  

[Rock Chalk]

Moving to GPS discussions.

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, otcoeng said:

What unit would you recommend?

 

For this kind of use I would recommend a Real-time kinematic (RTK) type receiver.

 

Vendors that provide RTK systems and services include: Trimble, Leica Geosystems, Topcon, North Surveying, Hi-Target, Sokkia, NovAtel, Septentrio, Hemisphere GNSS, ANavS, CHCNAV, SunNav, and Unistrong.

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by arisoft

[+geo climber]

1 hour ago, otcoeng said:

What unit would you recommend?

Have you tried just using a gps app on a smartphone or tablet? 

[+Viajero Perdido]

If you don't need surveyor-grade accuracy, the GPS Averaging app (Android) should do the job nicely.

 

Note that the accuracy of the built-in GPS in a phone is virtually indistinguishable - in my experience - from that of dedicated GPS units.

[+The A-Team]

2 hours ago, otcoeng said:

Would like the highest accuracy possible and should simple to use.

These two points are somewhat mutually exclusive. While I haven't used any of the professional-grade receivers myself, it's my understanding that they aren't exactly designed to be simple to use. They're meant to be used by a trained surveyor.

 

That being said, I don't think you need the highest accuracy if you only need to locate a culvert. You could probably get away with a consumer-grade receiver, which should usually get you to within about 15-30 feet or so. That should get you close enough to be able to locate the culvert again.

 

If all you need is the ability to record the coordinates of a culvert and later locate that spot again, then pretty much any consumer GPS receiver or modern smartphone would do the job.

[+Viajero Perdido]

And if you're simply trying to find culverts that someone else has hidden, you're in the right place!

 

You could find hidden treasure boxes in your spare time using the very same technology. Maybe you already have. Careful: it's kind of addictive.

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, The A-Team said:

That being said, I don't think you need the highest accuracy if you only need to locate a culvert. You could probably get away with a consumer-grade receiver, which should usually get you to within about 15-30 feet or so. That should get you close enough to be able to locate the culvert again.

 

The easiest to use solution:  Enable geotagging on the mobile phone and just took pictures of culverts. Every image will automatically have coordinates and a spoiler image with pinpoint accuracy.

[otcoeng]

Thanks so much for the suggestions.  I think we will start with phone and see what happens.  Any recommendations to particular Garmin models for this application?

 

Thanks

Shannon

[+arisoft]

15 minutes ago, otcoeng said:

Any recommendations to particular Garmin models for this application?

 

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/109827

 

 

[alandb]

Is it important to record elevations as well as coordinates? If so, you might want to consider a Garmin handheld with a barometric altimeter ... like the Oregon series.

[otcoeng]

Thanks Arisoft.  No alandb, elevation not needed.