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Affordable GPS

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(@toeknee)
Posts: 71
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@pentaxbob You might be able to do it with a hiking app on your phone.  Most of the common apps (I like Gaia and CalTopo) let you save your current coordinates.  They also let you enter destination coordinates and will navigate you to that point, giving you a distance and azimuth to travel, along with an arrow on your phone screen, as you walk towards it, kinda like staking out a point.

You could give it a try.  It'd probably be within a few meters or so.

CalTopo will even let you draw a line running a specified azimuth for a specified distance from a specified point.  CalTopo was developed with Search And Rescue teams in mind, so it has some features can are useful for surveying and GIS-type work.

However most of the apps work in "WGS84" coordinates, which can be a bother if you're working in, say, State Plane coordinates based on NAD83.  But if you're standing at one corner and need to walk, say, N40E for 1200', you could do it with CalTopo to some degree of accuracy.  Now of course the previous surveyor might have used a different basis for their bearings, but hey that's part of the fun of surveying.

 
Posted : 14/05/2023 4:04 pm
(@oldpacer)
Posts: 656
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@pentaxbob  The paid version of cell phone apps will let you do that, with or without underlying aerial basemaps.

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 6:29 am
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7609
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Somebody who is clever with such things should produce a phone app that will accept SP coordinates as input/output. 

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 7:17 am
(@oldpacer)
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@norman-oklahoma    Fieldgenius Android.  Internal autonomous usually+/- 4 feet, worst +/- 7 feet.

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 8:02 am
(@dougie)
Posts: 7889
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A paid app on your phone is the way to go, for recon. I loaded the free trial version of OnXhunt and walked right up to property corners with their parcel map. didn't have to input anything. They market to hikers and hunters, but i believe they have all the parcel lines in the country.

But I have survey grade GNSS so I don't need to pay for something I don't need.

Your mileage may vary...

 

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 9:39 am
(@norman-oklahoma)
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Fieldgenius Android.  Internal autonomous usually+/- 4 feet, worst +/- 7 feet.

I'm hoping for something closer to the $5 - $20 range.  

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 10:21 am
(@oldpacer)
Posts: 656
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@norman-oklahoma     Mobile Topographer will do that. I used to use it and Lefebure for android NRTK. Enter SPC East and North, covert it to Lat and Long, give it a point name and ‘Go To’. I just used it, it went right to my driveway control point, my truck was parked on it and it zeroed on a tire. Try it, you’ll like it.

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 3:17 pm
(@pentaxbob)
Posts: 37
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Topic starter
 

A quick look at CalTopo reveals a claimed accuracy level of about fifteen feet. Finding a pipe in the weeds or a swamp might be a pretty big challenge. I found one in a swamp 8 ft off my compass line, but at the right string distance. A review of the Garmin GPSMAP 66SR I mentioned claimed around six feet which is what grabbed my attention. Unfortunately it's intended for mapping, not surveying unless somebody knows there's a way. Glad to hear lots of suggestions.

 
Posted : 15/05/2023 4:05 pm
(@mark-o)
Posts: 175
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Massachusetts has a free CORS network through MA DOT. You can probably find a 4 constellation rover for about $3k on ebay and field genius running on your cell phone. You'll get cm accuracy in the open and 1" +/- under light canopy. I actually have a rover setup I can sell you for cheap but it's only GPS/Glonass, comes with data collector running Carlson.  

 
Posted : 21/05/2023 10:33 am
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