You can fake your way through a lot of things in life. For example, you may be able to fool some folks into thinking you are a baseball expert by coaching a little league team. Make sure they know the steal sign, teach 'em to catch the ball, and not to swing at anything above their chin... and somehow everyone thinks you're some kind of pro.
So you don't necessarily have to be incredibly knowledgeable about the game or have pitched in the minor leagues to navigate your team through the season. But there are some things you can't fake, and one of them is GPS accuracy...
Like most GIS folks, you need a good quality GNSS receiver that connects to your mobile device via bluetooth? Most GIS folks don't need extreme sub-inch accuracy for their mapping project but they do want something that's better than the 8-10 feet they might see from their smartphone or tablet. Something in the middle like 3-4 feet would be nice (this area is shown to be a missing option as seen in this former post on GPS accuracy).
So let's take a look at some of the latest devices out there available in this realm...
The Trimble R1 GNSS receiver packs a lot of punch into such a small box. With Bluetooth capabilities for even more versatility.
1. Trimble R1 GNSS Receiver- a rugged, compact, lightweight GNSS receiver that provides professional-grade positioning information to any connected mobile device using Bluetooth® connectivity. Cost =. $2500
2. SXBlue II GNSS- The SXBlue II GNSS is a palm-sized receiver that delivers real-time, high accuracy performance using GPS/GLONASS satellites and free SBAS corrections. Cost = $2895.
3. EOS Positioning Systems Arrow Series 100 -The Arrow series 100 provides submeter accuracy for comparing with these other models but their line also includes the 200 model which claims to be the world’s first GNSS receiver able to provide 1cm real-time accuracy directly to your Android, iOS and Windows mobile device when connected to an RTK service or base station. Cost = $2995.
There are many different combinations and ways that you can collect high-accuracy GIS data with mobile devices. If you're looking for something that is lightweight and filled with performance, one of these units might be just what you are looking for. We hope to provide some more specific examples and possibly some accuracy reviews (nothing fake) in a future post.