GPS accuracy: Hand-held versus RTK

Kevin W. Hall, Joanna Kathleen Cooper, Donald C. Lawton

Source and receiver points for seismic lines recorded during the geophysics field school near Spring Coulee Alberta were surveyed with a Sokkia real time kinematic (RTK) GPS survey. The points were also surveyed with two hand-held Garmin GPS receivers. In order to determine what sort of station spacing could be adequately surveyed with the hand-held units, geophones were repeatedly surveyed with all three systems. The RTK system had a maximum error of 10 cm in x, y and z. Repeated hand-held measurements cannot resolve stations less than two meters apart in x and three meters apart in y.