[Qgis-user] wishing for accurate lattitude/longitude from a cell phone

Bernd Vogelgesang bernd.vogelgesang at gmx.de
Sat May 23 10:51:55 PDT 2020


Unfortunately, the Forest Service Website went offline (maybe this
thread caused so much traffic that it broke down? ;) )

I'm also desperately searching for an affordable way to have at least
some decent accuracy. I do not need submeter, but it would be fantastic
if it was possible to achieve meter accuracy.
I gave up on that Garmin stuff. They might be accurate, but I have no
chance to control this until I return home and put the recorded data on
screen over an aerial image. Those screens are a joke, and the business
logic that prevents me to put reasonable aerial imagery on the device
without paying a fortune is apita. Maybe this improved cause I last
checked 5 years ago.

Mobile phones at least in my case seem to get worse. My Motorola from
2016 had an accuracy of less than 4 meters, most of the time less than 2.
Now I bought a Huawei 30 pro cause of the camera (my first phone with
nice pictures!), but the accuracy is a nightmare. The position is
jumping around like a dog on rabies.
I also bought a bluetooth device (Navilock BT-821G) two years ago. This
is much better than the phones GPS, tho it only receives 20 satellites
maximum (The phone claims to receive some 40). But also this device
sometimes, when walking a transect, is constantly 5 meters off the track
for several several minutes.

As apps averaging the positions were mentioned: Does anyone have a
recommendation on such apps (for Android)? I found some, but the
usability was not that great, and some even didn't enhance anything.

Furthermore, I stumble upon an article about a module with u-blox chip.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16481
Does anyone have any experience with modules like this and what else is
needed? The description of all the stuff leaves me a bit puzzled.

Cheers,

Bernd

On 23.05.20 18:17, Michael.Dodd wrote:
> https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00118.x
> I did this quite a few years ago but in the graph in supplimentary
> material it shows how the accuracy of one consumer grade gps varies
> over time (at a fixed point). At the time I also did a lot more
> measurements using mobile phones and consumer grade units on a grid of
> points in the field, that was not published but basically the phones
> were often as good as if not better than the consumer grade gps units
> especially when using certain apps to average points.
> <https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00118.x>
>
> Where are my quadrats? Positional accuracy in fieldwork - Dodd - 2011
> - Methods in Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library
> <https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00118.x>
> Introduction. There has been much written about sampling design,
> spatial scale and the need for permanent plots in ecological long‐term
> monitoring, for example, the paper on spatial scaling in ecology has
> been cited over 1500 times, but one frequently ignored issue,
> intimately associated with sampling design, scale and permanence of
> plots, is how to locate positions accurately.
> besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Qgis-user <qgis-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of
> Nicolas Cadieux <nicolas.cadieux at archeotec.ca>
> *Sent:* 23 May 2020 16:34
> *To:* Randal Hale <rjhale at northrivergeographic.com>
> *Cc:* qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org <qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [Qgis-user] wishing for accurate lattitude/longitude
> from a cell phone
> CAUTION: This mail comes from outside the University. Please consider
> this before opening attachments, clicking links, or acting on the content.
>
> Hi,
>
> This is a very interesting list. It basically confirms what I thought.
> Consumer Point and shoot deceives are all around 2-6m with no canopy.
> The average multiple positions basically give you a better idea as a
> gps may get lucky.  It would be nice to have the full methodology for
> this and more data (like the number of satellite and the position of
> the constellation and the gps price list) but it’s very interesting
> none the less.  I was also happy that the data confirms the precision
> of the gps Sx-Blue 11. This claims to be sub meter and my tests
> indicated that on our office unit but it’s nice to see it done
> elsewhere.  For about 2000$, this gps is pretty good. As for the rest,
> the difference between 150$ and 1000$ is probably  more a function of
> the options (like maps and screen size...) and not a question of
> precision. It would be nice to know what gps chips they are running...
>
> Interesting thing also is that based on my reviewing the data on my
> phone (without graph or cross tabulation tables) is that the Glonas
> Constellation does not seem to help much.  Quick stats on this list
> would confirm this. Maybe this is just a figment of my imagination
> because there’s only so much information you can grad without running
> proper stats.
>
> Thanks for the post.
>
> Nicolas Cadieux
> Ça va bien aller!
>
> > Le 23 mai 2020 à 09:02, Randal Hale
> <rjhale at northrivergeographic.com> a écrit :
> >
> > One other thing that may or may not be of use but the USDA Forest
> Service Publishes a GPS Receiver Report that covers phones - and
> that's helped if I've had a client go "Well I have a Apple <something>
> or a Android <thing>". At least I feel slightly better going "good
> enough" or "no not good enough".
> >
> > It should be good worldwide (but I will admit I think phones are my
> 'tech ceiling' these days) but your mileage may vary.
> >
> > https://www.fs.fed.us/database/gps/mtdcrept/accuracy/index.htm
> >
> > Randy
> >
> >> On 5/22/20 8:55 PM, Priv.-Doz. Dr. Maria Shinoto wrote:
> >> Somehow I did not follow the discussion, but like to add some of
> our experience.
> >>
> >> We are doing field work in a remote region in the southern Japanese
> mountains, archaeological surveys on the ground based on LiDAR data.
> >>
> >> A simple Garmin etrex10 is mostly reliable in an area of 40cm by
> 40cm around a measured point, if used repeatedly at this point and the
> point is located in the middle of a valley. Even cell phones do a good
> enough job. As soon as we get closer to the steep slopes, the accuracy
> of the Garmin is less than 5 to 10 meters. We can check this with the
> detailed LiDAR based map, and geologists told us, that even an
> expensive device could not be more precise under these conditions. So
> we decided to measure traditionally on the ground if precise measure
> is necessary, otherwise note the GPS data and the location as shown in
> the map.
> >>
> >> To sum up, we came to the conclusion not to spend money on an
> expensive GPS that may not work in the shadow of steep slopes -- or in
> the streets of New York. -- I appreciate any additional advice, and
> hope that this experience can save Steve's organisation some money...
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Maria
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>> Am 23.05.2020 um 03:54 schrieb Stephen Sacks <sacks44 at earthlink.net>:
> >>>
> >>> In order to make widely available some wise advice, I'm sending to
> this list a message I received from Neil B.  In addition to Neil's
> message below, I want to mention that Nicolas Cadieux also provided
> similar information, saying I'd have to pay around $1,000 for
> equipment that gives consistently accurate location coordinates.  And
> thanks, also to Falk Huettmann and Bernd Vogelgesang for their replies.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Message from Neil B:
> >>>
> >>> Hello Stephen.
> >>> Glad that you're having su
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