P3: A Public Precise Positioning Service based on a national GNSS network

In this article we present the P3 (Public Precise Positioning) Service project where network GNSS data are combined with a consumer-grade receiver. P3 utilizes the Finnish national FinnRef GNSS network which is operated by the Finnish government and available free of charge to the general public. The project investigates the use of network real-time kinematics (RTK) and real-time precise point positioning (PPP) techniques in order to achieve a horizontal positioning accuracy better than 0.5 meters using a low-cost GNSS receiver. An online survey was conducted to identify potential users and applications of the service, and initial positioning results presented in the paper support the feasibility of the goal.