Carlson Field reads a latitude, longitude and height position from the GPS rover receiver and converts these values to State Plane or UTM coordinates for the current zone as set in Configure Field. Using local coordinates and their corresponding GPS position, Align Local Coordinates applies a transformation to convert the state plane or UTM coordinate to the local. Carlson Field can operate in three different modes depending on the Align Local Coordinate settings:
1) No points - No Adjustment
2) One point - Translation Only
3) Two or more points - Translate, Rotate and Scale
Without any alignment points set, Carlson Field will operate with no alignment which directly uses the state plane or UTM coordinates. In order for the coordinates to be the true state plane coordinates in this alignment mode, the GPS base receiver must be set up over a known point and the true Lat/Long for the point must be entered in the base as the base position. Otherwise, if the base is set over an arbitrary point, then the coordinates will not be true state plane.
In one point alignment mode, one pair of GPS and local coordinates is specified. The differences between the GPS and local northing, easting and elevation for these points are used as the translation distances in the transformation. The rotation will use either the state plane grid or the geodetic as north. No scale is applied in this transformation.
A two or more point alignment is used to align to an existing local coordinate system. At least two pairs of local and GPS coordinates must be entered.
In addition to the northing and easting transformation, SurvStar will also translate the elevation from the GPS system to the local. The elevation difference between the two systems is modeled by a best-fit plane.
An alignment is only valid if the base receiver setup has not changed since the alignment points were recorded. In order to use an alignment when returning to a site, you must set up the base receiver in the same position and enter the same LAT/LONG coordinates for the base.
The Align GPS to Local Crds menu item brings up the alignment dialog box. There is more information than to fit in one window, so use the View button to switch between viewing the local coordinates and the GPS Lat/Lon.
Each line in the box represents one alignment point. Each point in an alignment file relates a specific Lat/Lon/Elv to a specific Northing/Easting/Elevation for your local coordinate system. Carlson Field will use the current alignment file every time that the GPS is read. It provides the necessary adjustment to properly convert that position to your coordinate system.
In the local points view, the HRes column shows the horizontal residual and the VRes column shows the vertical residual. The residual is the difference between the actual point and the point calculated using the alignment transformation. In GPS points view, the HRMS and VRMS columns show the horizontal and vertical RMS values when that point was recorded.
The On/Off buttons allow you to switch whether the highlighted point is used for the horizontal and/or vertical alignment. The HV column shows a `Y' if this point is used in the calculations. Otherwise it shows an `N'. The H column represents horizontal control and the V column vertical control. For example, you may wish to use 2 points for horizontal alignment and one for vertical.
The Optimize button will find the combination of turning
alignment points on/off for horizontal and vertical such that the
horizontal and vertical residuals are minimized.
The Desc field shows an optional description of the
alignment points.
The scale factor and average horizontal and vertical residuals appear at the top of the window. These values serve as a check that the alignment is valid. The scale factor should be closed to 1.0 (in range of 0.9 to 1.1). The average residuals should be less than 0.2.
XY On/Off toggles the highlighted alignment point horizontal component off or on. Alignment points with the horizontal component toggled off will not use the northing and easting of that point for adjustment calculations.
Z On/Off toggles the highlighted alignment point vertical component off or on. Alignment points with the vertical component toggled off will not use the elevation of that point for adjustment calculations.
Note: When you toggle either the XY or Z component off or on for any alignment point the scale factor and Horiz/Vert residuals are recalculated automatically. Briefly toggling XY or Z components off or on and reviewing the scale factor and residuals changes is a quick approach to finding the best alignment points. Carlson Field can handle an unlimited number of alignment points.
Highlight an existing alignment point entry and pick Delete to delete that alignment point.
Pick the Add button to create an alignment point. The Add Alignment Point dialog box appears. There are two ways to enter the local coordinate points: by entering the N, E, Z, or by using an existing point number stored in the current coordinate CRD file. The GPS values can also be specified by two methods: by entering in the Latitude, Longitude and Height or by occupying the control point with the rover and taking a GPS reading at this location. Manually entering the Lat/Lon can only be done when the base is setup on a known location using a true lat/lon position. Otherwise Carlson Field needs to use the Read GPS method. For this method, the base can be setup with a lat/lon that only needs to be close (within 100 feet) of the actual lat/lon. This type of position can be read from an autonomous GPS position. With the base setup on this approximate lat/lon, go with the rover to the control points and use the Read GPS option in the Add function. The rover GPS solution must be in "fixed" status when the alignment point is added. By reading the rover GPS position for the alignment points, the alignment will transform the coordinates from the GPS system of the current base setup to your local coordinate system.
Load allows you to open an existing alignment file. Only
one alignment file can be open at a time. Alignment files have a
DAT extension and stored in the Data directory by default.This
function also loads .LOC files from SurvCE, .DC files from Trimble
and .GC3 files from Topcon.
Save stores alignment files (DAT extensions) to a file. Files are by default stored to the Data subdirectory.
The OK button will set the current alignment to the
settings in the dialog.
Alignment Methods
Carlson Field can operate by the following Alignment methods:
Alignment Method 1) - No alignment points
Alignment Method 2) - One point alignment
Alignment Method 3) - Two or more alignment points
Alignment Method 1
With no alignment of the rover, Carlson Field will report Northing and Easting as State Plane or UTM coordinates. In order for this method to give accurate State Plane or UTM coordinate values, the GPS base receiver must be set up over a known point and configured using the true Lat/Long/Hgt or true State Plane coordinates. If the base is set over an arbitrary point, configured by reading the GPS, the RTK GPS stored coordinates will be translated up to a 200 feet but accurate in relation to each other.
When using this method, you can skip Align GPS to Local Crds and start surveying immediately once the base is configured and transmitting its position and the rover is fixed.
In most cases, you cannot use Method 1 because you will not have setup the base on a point whose exact true position you know. Therefore the base corrections are going to be off a certain distance north/south and a certain distance east/west. This is why you want to do an alignment. You are showing Carlson Field how to correct for the north/south and east/west offsets. Any points surveyed with the alignment file active will be translated to their proper position.
To gather alignment points, you put the GPS antenna over a point with known coordinates and Carlson Field records the GPS Lat/Lon/Elv and the Northing/Easting/Elevation you give it. This point can be a local coordinate, for example a stake you are calling 5000,5000. It can also be a true State Plane point. Using one or more State Plane points will give you an alignment to true State Plane (even if your base is not using its own true position.)
Alignment Method 2
This method uses one alignment point to translate the GPS coordinates to local or true State Plane coordinates.
Remember that if the base is set up over an arbitrary point, the GPS coordinates can be off from true state plane by up to 200 feet. This alignment method can be used to correct for this by translating the system onto true state plane coordinates.
You can choose if you want the coordinate system North to be Geodetic North or State Plane Grid North under Configure Field>GPS Settings. If you specify a scale factor in that dialog box, it will be applied to all points recorded.
One point alignment is useful for data collection on a new site. In this case you can set up the GPS base receiver anywhere convenient. Then position the rover over a point (preferably one you can find again) and add this point as your one alignment point by reading the GPS point and entering a local coordinate like 5000,5000,100. Now the local coordinate system is set around this first point at 5000,5000,100.
This method is commonly used for small topo or stockpile RTK GPS surveys. When collecting or staking data at distances greater than 2 miles from the base, both the horizontal and vertical errors will begin to increase gradually. Therefore, you should use a multiple point alignment for large projects.
Alignment Method 3
This method is useful if you are arriving on a job which has already been surveyed. It assures that your survey is in the same coordinate system as the original survey.
Using control points, this method transforms the GPS coordinates to an existing local coordinate system. This method takes pairs of GPS coordinates and the corresponding local coordinates to define the translation, rotation and scale of the alignment.
In Configure Field>GPS Settings, there is a choice for the transformation as Plane Similarity or Rigid Body. Plane Similarity will apply a scale factor to the transformation. The scale factor will be based on the alignment points and should always be very near 1.0 to be correct. The Rigid Body option will align by translate and rotate but no scale. Any difference in scale between the GPS and local coordinate systems will be distributed equally between the two alignment points. These differences will appear as horizontal residuals in the Alignment dialog.
Two pairs of points are sufficient to define the translation, rotation and scale for the transformation. But adding more alignment points yields the most accurate results for aligning to existing coordinate systems. Since two pairs of coordinates are sufficient to define the transformation, there is extra data when there are three or more pairs. The program uses a least-squares best-fit routine to find the transformation that minimizes the residuals. This one best-fit transformation is used to convert from the GPS to the local coordinate system for all the points. The residuals are the differences between the transformed GPS coordinates and the actual local coordinates.
A multiple point alignment is especially helpful on a survey which covers a large area. The error in raw GPS coordinates increases as you get farther from the base. Taking alignment points around the perimeter of your job site as alignment points will give you the best geometry for the alignment.