Dual GPS for Survey123

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08-07-2019 12:45 PM
SumbulQaimkhani
New Contributor

When collecting data in the field, our surveyors would like better GPS accuracy, We are thinking to get a  XGPS150A - Universal GPS Receiver — Dual GPS Solutions (XGPS150A - Universal GPS Receiver — Dual GPS Solutions ) . The documentation for the product specifies that it " Supports both NMEA and Apple protocols" . Although I am not sure if it actually connects to survery123 since survey123 does not have an external GPS device option. Has anyone else used an external GPS with survey123, was it able to connect successfully. 

 

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JamesTedrick
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Sumbul,

The Dual device you specify would be more likely to connect to the device rather than connect directly to Survey123; with Android & iOS devices that is the normal way to connect to a GPS (especially when you are not doing a high-accuracy collection, which the Dual device looks to be unable to support).  Once the GPS connects to the device, it overrides the built-in GPS; Survey123 will see the information from the device by default then.  

As Lance mentioned, Survey123 can directly connect to an external GPS receiver.  Note that for a direct connection to be supported in iOS, the Survey123 needs to work with the device manufacturer to authorize the application to use the device; this has not been done for a Dual device at this time.

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LanceCole
MVP Regular Contributor

Sumbul, 

Survey 123 does support the use of external GPS units.  Please see https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2019/03/05/direct-gnss-external-receiver-support-in....  We are using a Leica GG04+ with Collector and Survey123 for centimeter accuracy with RTK corrections.  I have also used a BadElf GPS just for fun on a couple of occasions with 1 to 2 meter accuracy. Using Survey123 for ArcGIS with a Bad Elf GPS Receiver.

You can also take a look at Use a high-accuracy receiver—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS that has a whitelist of supported gps units depending upon the device platform.  Others may also work with if they provide the needed NMEA sentences. 

SumbulQaimkhani
New Contributor

Hi Lance, 

Thank you so the reply and the documentation. we are pretty excited testing with the a external GPS. 

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LanceCole
MVP Regular Contributor

Sumbul,

Sounds like you have a plan.  A word of caution, you do need to keep in mind that even if these are rated at +/- 2.5 meters accuracy, that is for perfect conditions.  Even then, if you have one point at +2.5m and another at -2.5m that is a 5m difference and that is without taking in to account time of day, line of sight, obstructions and interference, number and type of satellites, etc. that can and will further degrade the accuracy.  I say this as I am manually correcting over 7000 points that a vendor collected using a similar device that sometimes the points are off by 10's or 100's of meters.  

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SumbulQaimkhani
New Contributor

Hi Lance , thank you for the heads up. We did end up getting the device although there was a manufacturing faulty so had to return it plus it wasn’t pairing up properly we ended up going with a garmin GPS . Waiting for that one to arrive .  Although you are right the accuracies will vary depending on the day I am currently looking at my data collection without using external gps it was a pretty decent number with under +/- 3m . We are thinking we might not really need to use another device, 

thanks 

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JamesTedrick
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Sumbul,

The Dual device you specify would be more likely to connect to the device rather than connect directly to Survey123; with Android & iOS devices that is the normal way to connect to a GPS (especially when you are not doing a high-accuracy collection, which the Dual device looks to be unable to support).  Once the GPS connects to the device, it overrides the built-in GPS; Survey123 will see the information from the device by default then.  

As Lance mentioned, Survey123 can directly connect to an external GPS receiver.  Note that for a direct connection to be supported in iOS, the Survey123 needs to work with the device manufacturer to authorize the application to use the device; this has not been done for a Dual device at this time.

SumbulQaimkhani
New Contributor

Hi James, 

Thank you so much for the information. Its great to know that survey123 can connect directly to the server. My team decided to get a dual GPS "XGPS150A". 

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