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The RTK products transmit full NMEA sentences over Bluetooth serial port profile (SPP) at 4Hz and 115200bps. This means that nearly any GIS application that can receive NMEA data over serial port (almost all do) can be used with the RTK Express. As long as your device can open a serial port over Bluetooth (also known as SPP) your device can retrieve industry standard NMEA positional data. The following steps show how to use SW Maps but the same steps can be followed to connect any serial port based GIS application.
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SparkFun RTK products transmit full NMEA sentences over Bluetooth serial port profile (SPP) at 4Hz and 115200bps. This means that nearly any GIS application that can receive NMEA data over serial port (almost all do) can be used with the RTK Express. As long as your device can open a serial port over Bluetooth (also known as SPP) your device can retrieve industry standard NMEA positional data. The following steps show how to connect an external tablet, or cell phone to the RTK device so the any serial port based GIS application can be used.
While we recommend SW Maps for Android, there are a variety of 3rd party apps available for GIS and surveying. We will cover a few examples below that should give you an idea of how to get the incoming NMEA data over Bluetooth into the software of your choice.
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Note: SparkFun is a hardware company; we don't use GIS software for our primary job. While we've stumbled our way through these software packages, we assume you, the professional will know how to use the software once it's clear how to get data from the RTK device into the GIS product.
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Note: SparkFun is a hardware company; we don't use GIS software for our primary job. We will demonstrate the settings needed to connect to the software, after that we assume you, the professional will know how to use the software once it's clear how to get data from the RTK device into the GIS product.
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## SW Maps
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The best mobile app that we’ve found is the powerful, free, and easy to use *[SW Maps](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=np.com.softwel.swmaps)* by Softwel. You’ll need an Android phone or tablet with Bluetooth. What makes SW Maps truly powerful is its built-in NTRIP client. This is a fancy way of saying that we’ll be showing you how to get RTCM correction data over the cellular network.
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*List of available Bluetooth devices*
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The best mobile app that we’ve found is the powerful, free, and easy to use *[SW Maps](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=np.com.softwel.swmaps)* by Softwel. You’ll need an Android phone or tablet with Bluetooth. What makes SW Maps truly powerful is its built-in NTRIP client. This is a fancy way of saying that we’ll be showing you how to get RTCM correction data over the cellular network.
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From SW Map's main menu, select *Bluetooth GNSS*. This will display a list of available Bluetooth devices. Select the Rover or Base you just paired with. If your are taking height measurements (altitude) in addition to position (lat/long) be sure to enter the height of your antenna off the ground including any [ARP offsets](https://geodesy.noaa.gov/ANTCAL/FAQ.xhtml#faq4) of your antenna (should be printed on the side).
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Click on 'CONNECT' to open a Bluetooth connection. Assuming this process takes a few seconds, you should immediately have a location fix.
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*SW Maps with RTK Fix*
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From SW Map's main menu, select *Bluetooth GNSS*. This will display a list of available Bluetooth devices. Select the Rover or Base you just paired with. If your are taking height measurements (altitude) in addition to position (lat/long) be sure to enter the height of your antenna off the ground including any [ARP offsets](https://geodesy.noaa.gov/ANTCAL/FAQ.xhtml#faq4) of your antenna (should be printed on the side).
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Click on 'CONNECT' to open a Bluetooth connection. Assuming this process takes a few seconds, you should immediately have a location fix.
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You can open the GNSS Status sub menu to view the current data.
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### NTRIP Client
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If you’re using a serial radio to connect a Base to a Rover for your correction data, you can skip this part.
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If you’re using a serial radio to connect a Base to a Rover for your correction data, or if you're using the RTK Facet L-Band with built-in corrections, you can skip this part.
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We need to send RTCM correction data from the phone back to the RTK device so that it can improve its fix accuracy. This is the amazing power of the SparkFun RTK products and SW Maps. Your phone can be the radio link! From the main SW Maps menu select NTRIP Client. Not there? Be sure the 'SparkFun RTK' instrument was automatically selected connecting. Disconnect and change the instrument to 'SparkFun RTK' to enable the NTRIP Connection option.
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@@ -48,7 +50,7 @@ Once you have a full RTK fix you'll notice the location bubble in SW Maps turns
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Note: The company behind SurvPC, Carlson Software, is rather hostile to competitors of their $18,000 devices, so be warned.
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Be sure your device is paired over Bluetooth.
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Be sure your device is [paired over Bluetooth](https://sparkfun.github.io/SparkFun_RTK_Firmware/connecting_bluetooth/#windows).
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@@ -57,7 +59,6 @@ Be sure your device is paired over Bluetooth.
@@ -97,7 +98,9 @@ You will be shown a list of devices that have been paired. Select the RTK device
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*Connect to Device*
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Click the `Connect Bluetooth` button, shown in red in the top right corner. The software will begin a connection to the RTK device. You'll see the MAC address on the RTK device change to the Bluetooth icon indicating its connected. If it detects NMEA, it will report a successful connection.
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Click the `Connect Bluetooth` button, shown in red in the top right corner. The software will begin a connection to the RTK device. You'll see the MAC address on the RTK device change to the Bluetooth icon indicating its connected.
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If SurvPC detects NMEA, it will report a successful connection.
@@ -107,15 +110,22 @@ You are welcome to enter the ARP (antenna reference point) and surveying stick l
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**NTRIP Client**
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Note: If you are using the RTK Facet L-Band you do not need to setup NTRIP; the device generates its own correction data. But if L-Band corrections are not available, the device can still achieve RTK fixes using corrections over an NTRIP Client connection.
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Note: If you are using a radio to connect Base to Rover, or if you are using the RTK Facet L-Band you do not need to setup NTRIP; the device will achieve RTK fixes and output extremely accurate location data by itself. But if L-Band corrections are not available, or you are not using a radio link, the NTRIP Client can provide corrections to this Rover.
If you selected 'DGPS' as the Model type, the RTK submenu will be shown. This is where you give the details about your NTRIP Caster such as your mount point, user name/pw, etc. For more information about creating your own NTRIP mount point please see [Creating a Permanent Base](https://sparkfun.github.io/SparkFun_RTK_Firmware/permanent_base/)
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Once everything is conncted up, click the Green check in the top right corner.
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Enter your NTRIP Caster credentials and click connect. You will see bytes begin to transfer from your phone to the RTK Express. Within a few seconds the RTK Express will go from ~300mm accuracy to 14mm. Pretty nifty, no?
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What's an NTRIP Caster? In a nut shell it's a server that is sending out correction data every second. There are thousands of sites around the globe that calculate the perturbations in the ionosphere and troposphere that decrease the accuracy of GNSS accuracy. Once the inaccuracies are known, correction values are encoded into data packets in the RTCM format. You, the user, don't need to know how to decode or deal with RTCM, you simply need to get RTCM from a source within 10km of your location into the RTK Express. The NTRIP client logs into the server (also known as the NTRIP caster) and grabs that data, every second, and sends it over Bluetooth to the RTK Express.
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Don't have access to an NTRIP Caster? You can use a 2nd RTK product in operating in Base mode to provide the correction data. Checkout [Creating a Permanent Base](https://sparkfun.github.io/SparkFun_RTK_Firmware/permanent_base/). If you're the DIY sort, you can create your own low cost base station using an ESP32 and a ZED-F9P breakout board. Checkout [How to Build a DIY GNSS Reference Station](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-build-a-diy-gnss-reference-station). If you'd just like a service, [Syklark](https://www.swiftnav.com/skylark) provides RTCM coverage for $49 a month (as of writing) and is extremely easy to setup and use. Remember, you can always use a 2nd RTK device in *Base* mode to provide RTCM correction data but it will less accurate than a fixed position caster.
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Once everything is connected up, click the Green check in the top right corner.
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