ANY REVIEWS OF RTKDATA.COM

I did some testing over the weekend, I connected to the service, it very quickly initialized, and I output GGA at 1s for a few days. I still need to analyze the data that I collected. A quick look does show a few jumps (I am mostly concerned with the vertical), but mostly very stable.  

My house/office falls in one of the 2 cm areas. Base was about 13 km away. 

This is not a true VRS but rather a single base solution (which, in my opinion, CAN be better than VRS depending on distance to base, etc). You still need to send GGA so that it knows what is the nearest station to connect to. 

I did have some email back and forth with a tech there, he states that they monitor the reference stations being used to detect any poor data or movement or multipath. I previously tested a different provider but found that they were not quite as rigorous with station stability/location/receiver quality. 

Unfortunately I don't have a subscription to the VRS in the area (Keynet) to compare a similar long data set, but I will compare it against an RTX data set. The location of my station is very well known (to me) as I have many days/months/years of data there. 

I like that they have an AUTO mountpoint (NAD83 (2011) in the US) as well as an ITRF mountpoint. 

This GNSS Network is the same as https://console.geodnet.com/map GEODNET that has a total of 22,793 Base Station (Miners) spread across the globe, and I have one set up at my office. RockNet is also involved in this network. These are small devices connected to your home/office internet, roughly the size of two cigarette boxes, and they connect to a coaxial cable linked to the GNSS antenna on top of your building. While each device operates as an individual NTRIP base station, which is fine for short distances, it means there are no network atmospheric corrections for long distances like a true Network GNSS. Additionally, homeowners often install the antenna mounts themselves, which can lead to instability.

The device owner is compensated by mining a specific form of "bit" coin through the GNSS base. I purchased the GNSS base a few years ago for $600 and let ROCK mine the coin, while I have access to the entire network for free on a perpetual account. As I understand it, you can earn about $40 per month in coin, which happens to be the same amount as RTKdata.com charges per month to access the network. When I purchased, you had three choices:

1. Earn the coin without access to the network.
2. Earn the coin and Pay the monthly subscription for access to the network.
3. Let them mine the coin, and you access the network for free.

@leegreen Makes sense that they are using the same stations, as RTKData also claims about 20K stations. My problem with Geodnet when I tested it was that I was on a project near West Point and I decided to test it and compare to VRS and saw that there was a station nearby. I drove by the location and it was a pole attached to a chimney with a large tree nearby, and didn't look very stable.

@john-hamilton I bet if you call KEYnet they would give you a week trial. I just did this on a 330 acre boundary to see how it compared to smartnet and base rover etc.

@olemanriver I have used Keynet many times. However, I don't need it regularly so I don't have an annual subscription. I use it for a daily rate when needed. I actually use RTKNet (TX/OK) much more than keynet due to a lot of power line work, also as a daily rate. I will say that Keynet is somewhat poor performing in parts of VA, while most other places it works fine.   

I also use VRSNow (Trimble run) frequently, so I maintain one, sometimes two 100 hour/year subscriptions with them. 

@john-hamilton I aggree on the Keynet poor performance in places in VA.  They have poor spacing and gaps.  Then I suspect some stations the way or where they are mounted.  I have had great success in northern VA.  But central and southwest is terrible. I might use it to get started but always log the static data so I can reposition everything to NSRS through OPUS or Trimble Centerpoint. Or process the baselines myself. Project dependent and requirements.   Heck the HERE positions are down to a few feet in horizontal so that is close enough for me to get a job started easily.

how does Keynet compare with Leica's SmartNet?

any problems with trimble receivers connecting to SmartNet?

@hpalmer well horizontal I don’t see any difference almost anywhere.   Smartnet seems to show some bias in the vertical on repeating to the same point morning vs late afternoon. It’s almost always between.17 ft and .23ft. Around the Richmond areas. In northern Va closer to the cities VRs Keynet all day long. Go out east VRs falls on its face a bit in the vertical.  Smartnet. Seems reliable and relatable except what I mentioned above in the vertical issues. I see from morning to late afternoon re observing.  I did a survey not long ago I used all.  Horizontal only and base rover. No issues at all least squares holding all vectors. Neither work well in canopy.

@hpalmer sorry got busy. That vertical bias is always higher in the afternoon. Tells me that one of the stations at least is not stable in the heat of the day and is expanding.  The other is.  When in an area where VRs has good spacing like northern Va.  when troposphere changes around the outside of the stations VRs wins.  Smartnet doesn’t have as good a troposphere model in my opinion. But for what we use it for. It’s all good. I almost always disable the NRTK vectors and hold opus or Trimble center point and role with base and rover.

I would imagine @john-hamilton keynet is better up your direction. More stations. In VA they get sparse after you get to central and east and west Va.