Please see this post for more details.
I would like FieldMaps to have post-processing capabilities.
As it stands now, FieldMaps itself can only take advantage of real-time corrections (which are great).
However, frequently we are in conditions where we are not able to take full advantage of our receivers' capabilities due to lack cell or internet service (including but not limited to remote areas or collecting on tablets without a data plan).
In these cases, we lose out on the full potential precision; as mentioned in the linked post, I could get 50cm precision on NTRIP, but only 80cm on SBAS with a Trimble R1. In more extreme cases, receivers like the Leica GG04* or the EOS Arrow Gold could get sub-centimeter precision on NTRIP, but hovered around 30-50cm on SBAS.**
* I did a lot more testing since the original post, and my numbers for the Leica then were extreme outliers.
** For posterity, I did not test on a control point, so I am taking the reported precision at its word.
To be clear, 30-50cm is not bad, but it's a far cry from 1cm.
Alternative options available as of summer 2022:
- Post-processing data hosted on AGOL is possible through the Leica Mobile app, but only if you collect through the Leica app, not FieldMaps.
- Leica's app also allows you to post-process data collected in it in-place or by downloading to a gdb and post-processing in ArcMap.
- They also have PPP, but the coverage is not as broad as is ideal just yet.
- Trimble Terraflex is a wonderful example of being able to post-process. It's incredibly flexible, allowing you to correct and recorrect as much as you'd like. Caveat being that post-processing is only availble in ArcMap
- This is from my knowledge with Trimble Positions. There is a sequel software released in fall 2022, but I think it still also only works with ArcMap.
- It is possible to post-process data collected with a Bad Elf receiver, but I haven't done it yet. (It involves Trimble Business Center, TRKLib, or Canadian PPP) I am also not sure if it's able to correct data collected in FieldMaps, or just in their own app.
All of these options are good (I'm particularly fond of Terraflex), but they lack integration with Pro and AGOL. Adding post-processing capabilities to FieldMaps would allow us to take full advantage of our equipment, safeguarding against things like cell-towers being down while also streamlining the workflow.
As @EKulack says on the linked post:
Please add a GNSS post-processing solution to the Field Maps workflow. It is a significant weakness to the Field Maps offline workflow when requiring mapping or survey grade accuracy.
