Development of topographic maps with RTK-DGPS

Summary form only given as follows. The objective of this study was to examine the potential to use real time kinematic differential GPS (RTK-DGPS) to collect data on a moving vehicle for the development of topographic maps. An intensive study on an approximate 3 m grid spacing was first conducted, using two GPS data collection modes, stop and go (using a tripod GPS antenna mount) and kinematic (with tractor mounted GPS antenna). It was found that the standard deviation of the elevation error between 10 true error points and the calculated topographic surface ranged from 2-3 cm for data collected on an approximate 3 m grid. The error for derived grid spacings of 9, 18, and 33 m ranged from 2-5 cm. A second study on three additional fields with RTK-DGPS on an approximate 10 m grid provided standard deviation of the elevation error figures in the 4-7 cm range.