Smart RINEX – saint or sinner?

Smart RINEX – saint or sinner?

Those that attended Leica’s GeoWorld 10 Roadshow in late 2010 would have been introduced to “SmartRINEX”. This is “an additional service to SmartNet subscribers” which is a “RINEX download facility from the SmartNet web site”. “Once you have registered, users have the ability to download all SmartRINEX data that they need in OSGB36”.

Although it sounds like a life-saving backup solution if mobile GPRS signal drops out, be warned; there are many factors that come into play which were not identified.

Crucially, you must have a SmartNet subscription (so for hire kits you must contact the hire company). You must be registered on the SmartNet/SpiderWeb website, and most importantly you must own, or be able to rent, a Post-Processing USB dongle plug-in for Leica Geo Office Combined, to allow the import of your DBX job, the RINEX data and to process them against one another. This is excluding the strict site procedures of a 10min ‘initialisation’ and maintenance of lock with <5 satellites, combining to generate at least 2 hours of non-interrupted obs, without the ability to check coordinates in real-time; so no stakeout! If measured and processed correctly this facility can save a day, but please ensure you have the necessary subscriptions and dongles before you start.