Can offline software like NGS Locus be used to determine geodetic leveling corrections?
Can offline software like NGS Locus be used to determine geodetic leveling corrections?
I had never heard of Locus before you posted your question. I suppose it can be used for the purpose, that is what its website says it is for. Personally, I use StarNet to adjust levelling data and am very happy with it.
There is a difference between "corrections" and "adjustments". LOCUS does apply various corrections, and can also perform adjustments.
A typical short level line doesn't benefit much from the corrections. Where I find it useful is for longer lines where there may be small systematic errors that slowly accumulate. Also, I find that it is MUCH easier to do an adjustment in Star*Net (or Geolab, etc).
Using LOCUS requires some extra formatting steps, so I only do that if I have a longer line, or if I am going to submit the data to NGS (Bluebooking).
https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/locus/equip.xhtml
How long of a a level run are you performing. What are your requirements. Besides locus you have many tools like StarNet TBC Geolab etc. as @john-hamilton stated if the line is short and depending on where like not up and over a mountain or along side of one you might not see much difference as the corrections are so minimal that they don’t affect the end results. What type of equipment will you be utilizing digital level or regular level etc. The NGS might have some of the videos but I think they mostly did the he geodetic leveling in person. There you get the field and office all the way through and he corrections and adjustments using NGS tools. They had both Leica and Trimble digital levels when I went through the course. They have a class coming up in April. If you can get signed up. If you do make it hit me up I will try and meet you for a cold one. Just tell the wife when you register . It is actually a good class. You can walk away with a few gems to apply in every day work as well. One of my old bosses had gone through it and he was amazed at what all goes into geodetic leveling.