RTK Surveying Kit

Kits
1

Many of my projects require a topographical survey for developing elevation contours and site plans. I currently use an auto level to shoot elevations and measure distances and angles, but I am looking at more efficient techniques (and a bonus if I can survey with one person). I am getting ready to purchase a SparkFun RTK Surveying Kit (GPS-17370), but I have some questions before I pull the trigger.

  1. I see in the product description that it can achieve 300 mm accuracy without corrections and 18 mm accuracy with corrections. That uncorrected accuracy seems a lot better than competitors; for example, others state an accuracy of 1.5 m without corrections. Am I understanding this 300 mm correctly?

  2. what about vertical accuracy? Are they similar to the horizontal accuracy?

  3. What NTRIP corrections are recommended for Canada, just west of Ottawa/Gatineau? Specifically, most of my jobs are in municipalities like Clarendon Quebec, Otter Lake Quebec, Bristol Quebec, L’Isle-Aux-Allumettes Quebec, Portage-du-Fort Quebec.

  4. Many of my job sites are in rural areas with no cell phone service. Is pointperfect sattelite corrections possible with this device or is addtional hardware required?

  5. I may in the future want to setup a base station for corrections. Is this RTK Surveyor kit capable of communicating to a base station? Is it as easy as acquiring another RTK surveying kit and tripod for the base?

  6. Is there a warranty on the RTK Surveying Kit?

  7. I plan to use an iphone and SWmaps (I also have an amazon fire tablet with the google play store installed if required). Does the iphone power the receiver? Can it be powered by a usb power bank?

  8. What is the expected level of accuracy (uncorrected and corrected) in trees?

Thanks in advance

Josh