Richard Phelan's comment, "With Solutions 2.40 you will be able to view the raw data and clean the data up", caught my attention.

Anyone know what types of editing feature will be included?

We used a program that could edit raw data when I was in college, and it was amazing what you could do with it. Many times we turned data that initially failed processing into usable data. Being able to "turn off" a satellite which was behind a tree, or block out a section of "choppy" (for lack of a better word) data, will turn failed vectors into passing vectors. Hopefully, Richard was referring to features like these.

I've noticed ... during those times I've spent starring at the flashing lights ... counting the SV blinks ... waiting for the timer to blink ... that the stations which fail most often are those which pick-up and/or drop-out satellites several times during the session. It makes me think that one of the satellites is behind some obstruction and probably 1) giving a good dose of multipath and 2) not maintaining a lock on the satellite long enough to be helpful (and probably actually hurts the processing).

Anyway ... I think any kind of editing feature will help out a lot. I can't wait to get my hands on 2.4, I think the first thing I'll do it run some of those failed vectors from the past through it and see if I can "fix" 'em.

Any thoughts?

-Greg

Greg,

Exactly what we're hoping for.

J.D.

Greg,

The new tools in AS2.4 for manual vector processing fall into two categories, data analysis and data editing.

The data analysis tools include the ability to graphically view plots of the raw data used to produce a vector and the ability to graphically view plots of the residuals from the vector solution. You use these graphical tools to identify problem data. The manual and on-line help of the software gives a good explanation of what to look for during this analysis.

Once you have identified what you think may be the problem with the data, you then use the data editing tools to eliminate this data prior to processing the vector again. The data editing tools include:

* The ability to set the start and stop time. This allows you to eliminate all data at the beginning and end of the session.
* The ability to change the satellite elevation mask. In previous versions of the software, the satellite elevation mask was fixed to 15 degrees. The Locus receiver collected data down to 10 degrees. The data between 10 and 15 degrees was lost to the processing. Now, the default elevation mask is 10 degrees. You can change it to whatever you want (above 10 degrees) in an attempt to improve the vector solution.

* The ability to eliminate a satellite from the processing. Simple enter the satellite number and its data will be ignored.

* The ability to eliminate a satellite as the reference satellite. When processing, all satellite data is differenced against a reference satellite. The software automatically selects which satellite is the reference. You now can control this.

* The ability to eliminate sections of any satellite. You enter the satellite number and the time segment. The data for the satellite within the time segment is not used in the processing.

This small set of data analysis and editing tools give you a great deal of control over the data used in processing. It will allow you to manually resolve problems in the data that the processing engine was not able to do automatically.

When editing the raw data, no changes are made to the raw data files. The editing parameters are stored in the project file.

Bill

The abilities that William Martin mentions are indeed what you need to do data cleanup. Not having used manufacturer's software I guess I never realized these cabilities were not already present. I think you will find they are of great value in cleaning up static positioning data.

Bill,

Sounds great! And the price tag is even better.

-Greg