Differential GPS Processing Guide for Novices

using Topcon Tools version 7.5 (9/24/2013)

This is a guide for those with either no or little experience processing differential GPS data. It is a
step by step guide to using Topcon Tools version 7.5 to process differential GPS data. The steps
will follow this general outline:
1) convert the receiver data files to RINEX
2) get the precise base station position
3) open Topcon Tools and create a project
4) import the base station data
5) import the roving station data, repeat for each rover station
6) process the baselines
7) copy the results to an excel spreadsheet
Eventually you will be collecting your own data to process. To follow along with this guides
example data from the UW Madison campus, please download the test data. It can be
downloaded from this link:
ftp://ftp.geology.wisc.edu/lord/gps/UWdata.zip
This guide assumes that you have already installed Topcon GPS Office version 7.5 and the
Trimble RINEX file conversion utility. If you havent, the following links will be useful.
Topcon GPS Office version 7.5
http://facility.unavco.org/kb/questions/22/Processing+Software+Summary+-+Topcon+Tools
Trimble ConvertToRINEX
http://ww2.trimble.com/trimblerinex_ts.asp
Topcon Tools is a commercial software package which is free to download and can be used
indefinitely in the free demo mode (limited to 5 points at a time). Almost all users doing simple
differential GPS surveys can use the demo mode to process their GPS data. As of spring 2013,
the cost of one seat without the demo limitations was $1500.

1) Convert receiver data to RINEX

Copy the base and rover GPS data files onto the computer being used to process the GPS
data. In this example we will assume the base station GPS data is in the folder
c:\data\130607b and the rover GPS data is in the folder c:\data\130607r. The general
form is c:\data\YYMMDDb or c:\data\YYMMDDr where YYMMDD is the date of data
collection, b is for base GPS data, and r is for rover GPS data.
We use several models of Trimble GPS receivers and each has different data formats and
file suffixes. Here is a summary:
Trimble receiver model
4000ssi, 4700
5700
NetRS
NetR9

Data file suffix

.dat
.T00
.T01
.T02

Trimble provides the tool Convert to RINEX to convert any of these files to RINEX.
On the computer desktop, double left click on the
Trimble Convert To RINEX icon. The program can also
be found under Start/Programs/Trimble/Convert To
RINEX/Convert To RINEX.
The Convert to RINEX window will open.
Left click on File/Open

Use the Look in: control and/or the Up one

level button to navigate to the Trimble base
station data folder c:\data\130607r.
By default, the window will display .T00, .T01,
and .T02 files. If you are processing .dat files,
use the File of type control to show .dat files.
Left click on the first file you want to convert.

If you want to convert more than one file,

depress the shift key, left click on the last file,
and release the shift key.
When you have all the files to convert
selected, left click on the Open button.

The dialog window will disappear and

information on the selected files will appear.

Left click on File/Convert Files.

The program will convert the data files to

RINEX format and place the resulting data files
in the same folder as the GPS receiver data
files. You will see files ending in .YYo, .YYn,
.YYm, and .YYr where YY is the last two
digitis of the year.
Repeat the above steps with the base station
GPS data files.
When done, left click on the [X] close button in
the upper right corner.

2) Get the precise base station position

If the base station position is unknown, there are several free precise positioning web
services available:
OPUS (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/OPUS/)
AUSPOS (http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/gps.pll)
APPS (http://apps.gdgps.net/)
CSRS (http://www.geod.nrcan.gc.ca/products-produits/ppp_e.php)
For this example we will use AUSPOS as it has a simpl use interface and does not require
a user account.
Start a browser and open
http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/gps.pll
After the page opens, left click on the Browse
button.

When the file dialog opens, navigate to the

folder c:\Data\130607b.
Left click on the RINEX obs file (ending in
.YYo), and then left click on the Open button.

Enter the antenna height (0.550 m).

Select TRM41249.00 TZGD as the antenna
type (Trimble Zephyr Geodetic).
Enter your e-mail address.
Left click on submit.

You should see this page acknowledging your

processing request.
Wait for the results to show up in your e-mail
(5-15 minutes).

The resulting AUSPOS report is included in the UWweeks.zip data file. The section
containing the station position is below:

From this we can see the rapid data products solution for the base station is
N 43 deg 04 min 14.18040 sec,
W 89 deg 24 min 22.89415 sec,
248.515 m height above ellipsoid.
You can convert DMS to decimal degrees and get
+43.07060567
-89.40635949
248.515 m HAE

43 + 04/60 + 14.18040/3600
-(89 + 24/60 + 22.89415/3600)

You should also note that these coordinates are relative to the ellipsoid used by the
EGM2008 geoid. As every geoid and ellipsoid model is different, you should be very
careful when converting coordinates from different datums or geoids to a common geoid
or ellipsoid. For example, you would find significant difference from a map showing
NAD27 (North American Datum 1927) or even a GPS handheld showing WGS84
coordinates.
You should also be aware that the precise positioning web services will use the most up
to date reference network data and that the solution 1 day after data collection wont be
the same as a week, or when the final reference data is available after 2 weeks. If you are
using rapid results in the field to check data quality, resubmit your base station data for
reprocessing after two weeks or longer after the data was collected.

3) Open Topcon Tools and create a project

On the computer desktop, double left click on
the Topcon Tools icon. The program can also
be found under Start/Programs/Topcon/Topcon
tools v7.5.

A dialog will appear if you do not have a paid

license installed on the computer.
Left click on the Demo Mode button.

A startup window will appear.

If you have already made a QC (quality
control) job, select it, and left click on the
Open job button.
Otherwise, left click on the New job button.
.

Enter QC in the job name box.

Select GPS+ for the Configurations entry.
Left click on the Edit configuration button.

Left click on Display.

Left click on the Angles tab.
Select ddd.ddd for the Angles and lat,lon
entries.
Left click on Coordinate system.
Left click on the Setup tab.
Select
Datum: WGS84.
Coordinate type: Datum Lat, Lon, Ell. H.
Left click on the OK button.
Note: if you are doing very precise geodetic work, and have long baselines, you should
either convert your coordinates to WGS84, or select the datum and coordinate types to
match your data. The GRS80 ellipsoid and ITRF2008 geoid are not in the default datum
or geoid lists so they would need to be added to get the most accurate results. Using the
incorrect coordinate system will cause a second order error which gets worse for longer
the base to rover baselines.
The job window will appear.
Left click on Job/Save Job so it is available the
next time you use Topcon Tools.

4) Import the base station data

Navigate to the base station data folder

(c:\data\130607b in this example).
Left click on the first RINEX file. Depress the
Ctrl key, and left click on each remaining
RINEX files associated with that occupation,
release the Ctrl key, and left click on the open
button.

The data will be read and will be shown on the

Topcon window. Left click on the new entry in
the name column and add the actual site name.

Under the base station control column, change

the control entry from None to Both. This
indicates that the base station coordinates are
fixed in both the vertical and horizontal
directions.

If you are in the field without easy internet access and just want to use Topcon Tools to
check the accuracy of the base-rover relative position, you can leave the coarse position
in the lat, lon, elevation columns for the base station. The accuracy of the base station
location will only be accurate to several meters, but going through the processing steps
will allow you to evaluate if the base and rover data is good.
If you do have the precise coordinates of the base station, left click on the lat, lon, and
elevation entries and change them to the precise values.

5) Import the roving station data, repeat for each rover

station

.Use the Job/Import menu item.

Navigate to the rover station data folder

(c:\data\130607r in this example).
Left click on the first RINEX file. Depress the
Ctrl key, and left click on each remaining
RINEX files associated with single site, release
the Ctrl key, and left click on the open button.

The data will be read and will be shown on the

Topcon window. Left click on the new entry in
the name column and add the actual site name.

Repeat the Job/Import steps for each

remaining rover site. The demo mode will
allow a base station plus 4 roving sites to be
used in a single job.

6) Process the baselines

Use the Process/GPS+ PostProcessing menu

item.
All the base-rover baselines will be processed
and the coordinates and error estimates will be
updated.

Left click on the GPS Obs tab.

Evaluate the horizontal and vertical precision
entries for each baseline. They are displayed
in meters. Typical values are 5 to20 mm for
baselines from 0 to 10 km. Vertical is
typically 1.5 times the horizontal error.
.
After loading all the data youll probably want to save the job.
Use the Job/Save Job As menu item and save it with a name line QC130607.

6) Copy the results to an excel spreadsheet

There are three tabs with information you will want to place in a spreadsheet: Points,
GPS Occupations, and GPS Obs.
Left click on the Points tab.
Type Ctrl-A to select all the points.
Copy the data by typing Ctrl-C.
Open a blank spreadsheet.
Double left click on the sheet1 tab name and
change it to Points.
Left click on the A1 cell, and type Ctrl-V to
paste the data.

Left click on the GPS occupations tab.

Type Ctrl-A to select all the points.
Copy the data by typing Ctrl-C.
Switch to the spreadsheet using Alt-Tab.
Double left click on the sheet2 tab name and
change it to GPS Occupations.
Left click on the A1 cell, and type Ctrl-V to
paste the data.

Left click on the GPS Obs tab.

Type Ctrl-A to select all the baselines.
Copy the data by typing Ctrl-C.
Switch to the spreadsheet using Alt-Tab.
Double left click on the sheet3 tab name and
change it to GPS Obs.
Left click on the A1 cell, and type Ctrl-V to
paste the data.

Use the Excel File/Save As menu item to save the spreadsheet to 130607.xls.
Close the spreadsheet using File/Exit.
Close Topcon Tools using the Job/Exit.
This completes processing the data using Topcon Tools v7.5.