Got 3 Promarks from Hayes about a year ago. They have a good video on post processing but not much on field procedure. So I read the manuals & did trial & error to learn how to static in points. It's easy now but a video would have made it a piece of cake to learn.
I have done two topo jobs in the last month and I still don't feel real good about my field procedures but think I am doing it ok.
Here's the way to do it. Static in at least two pts. then post process them. You can then delete the job from the collectors. Go back to the field & set your base over one of the static points and set the recording interval at 2 seconds under a static session. Then take your rover to the other static point & set it to stop & go also at 2 second intervals. Say no on the initialization promp & yes on the known pt. prompt. Give it an id of 0100 & set your time on site for 29 seconds & hit start. When it is done cooking you now have a known pt. called 0100. Turn the collector off & back on. Set the receiver to kinematic & initialize on a known pt of 0100 & let it cook for 29 seconds. Then transfer the antenna to your 4-wheeler, set a new antenna ht. & hit start. The collector will store a kinematic pt. every 2 seconds until you lose lock. Then you go back to pt. 0100 & initialize again. Then drive around until you have the 60 acres done.
Back in the office set your tolerance to 0.2' horizontal & 0.2' vertical. Delete any float solutions & think hard about any partial solutions. Then take your total station out & ck a dozen shots, if they are ok hope the other 5000 are too.
I just bought a bumper sticker that reads, "Don't worry, I'm a Surveyor"
There is nothing wrong with experimentation to figure things out but don't neglect the resources that are there to help.
The ProMark2 user's guide and Chapter 3 in particular should be studied with care along with Practical GPS Surveying. There are also ProMark2 training publications. Even the Survey Control II manual can provide some tips about Stop&Go and kinematic that might help with the ProMark2. All of these are available on the ftp server at
ftp://ftp.thalesnavigation.com
There are a bunch of good publications available from the NGS if you are willing to hunt for them. Alternatively send me a request for my list of freebie manuals and I will connect you with several internet resources. There is one from Canada called GPS Positioning Guide that is not bad at all.
http://www.geod.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/softrack_e.cgi?GPS_Guide+GPS_Guide_e.pdf
Sharon and I often talk about making videos that she could sell but we wonder if anybody would buy them. Making training videos is neither cheap nor easy. Pondering the sale of them for nickles and dimes just tells us it is not important. She sometimes offers training but has yet to get anybody to take her up on it.
I like your bumper sticker. A few years ago Sharon and I each had our rover antennas on magnetic mounts on the top of the truck. I pulled up on the side of the road to look for a survey monument and a guy pulled up beside us and asked, "How can you be lost with all that technology on your truck?" I told him, "I know exactly where I am. I just don't know if that is where I am supposed to be."
Phill;
Put me on order for the first tape/disk.
A video on real time field procedures would be helpful too. That may be my next investment.
Especially, the "entry-level"(I actually mean lower priced) Locus and Promark2, I wonder if a work-lab seminar could be a worthwhile venture.
Don't forget, Ohio is going to be on the Continuing Education bandwagon in 05 and we gotta get those credits somehow.
I'd rather get them learning about my equipment and software than to learn about something I'll never use.
. . . just a thought
Ian, thanks for the help. I am not a http wizard. My boat is full just trying to sort out things about GPS without having to keep my jots and tittles all in a row.
Thales Navigation has a part number for training. All you have to do is twist your RSM's tail hard enough and write a check.
It costs less if you come to Santa Clara, California. I have done some on-site training as well as some at Santa Clara. Frankly the at your house training competes with phone calls and the normal everyday work interuptions that typically keep you from doing eight hours of survey work in an eight hour day.
If you come to Santa Clara it suits me if all of us turn off the cell phone and ignore the pager. I don't know how Bob feels about that when he does training but I like to focus my attention on the task in front of us.
Alternatively find other people who are using the same or similar tools and have a GPS rodeo. Substitute rendevous for rodeo if that suits your geography better.
I can remember some programs that were put together by the OSLS using computer classrooms at technology centers and city parks for outdoor work. Since it usually came with a pretty good lunch it was almost always worth the money and worth the trip.
Mark Deal and I once taught a seminar about using NGS software at the technology center in Altus, Oklahoma. That attracted more than 30 people. We were crunching so much data we had to take turns accessing the data files on their network server.
Bill
What is the significance of a 29 sec burn rather than a 30 sec burn? At 2 sec intervals is it better to end on an odd sec?
Buster
9 is one of my lucky #'s