Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations was officially launched
Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations (YNCORS) was officially launched on February 6th. Professional users and specific users can enjoy centimeter-level and millimeter-level rapid positioning simply by using relevant receiving equipment.
According to the introduction from Duan Shiming, deputy director of the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information of Yunnan Province, the system is a continuous operating reference station system established based on satellite positioning, computer networks and digital communication technologies. The system is compatible with signals from BeiDou satellite navigation system of China, GPS satellite navigation system of the United States and GLONASS satellite navigation system of Russia. It can achieve high-precision and medium-precision navigation and positioning service coverage to the entire province of Yunnan and its surrounding areas. Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations (YNCORS) which was established in 2016 passed trial operation in 2017. Now the system is stable and reliable, and has achieved fruitful construction and operation service results. Now it is ready to form a provincial network to formally provide services to society. It is expected that in the next three years, the problem of inaccurate positioning will be solved easily.
Greatly improve work efficiency in departments of land, forestry, and water conservancy
The traditional measurement of planimetric position has some deficiencies in the aspect of large workload, heavy tasks, long period of geographic information data collection and update, high operating cost and low acquisition accuracy. By integrating Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations, it can effectively resolve these issues accordingly and significantly increase work efficiency. Traditional surveying and mapping work requires 7 or 8 hours or more time to complete high-precision positioning work. Now it takes only minutes or even seconds to achieve the work. Meanwhile, with the help of this system, repetitive investments such as erecting base stations and purchasing related equipment have been reduced, saving manpower and material costs. Moreover, this system has also greatly improved work efficiency for other industries (such as land, forestry, and water conservancy) on obtaining geographic locations.
24-hour full-day service for surveying and mapping operations
Traditional surveying and mapping operations require good visibility to be implemented, so its implementation always depends on the weather. The surveying and mapping work cannot be carried out smoothly in morning & evening hours, rainy days and fog days. Besides, it is also susceptible to the conditions of operation scope, terrain condition and so on. Nowadays, Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations has been put into use and been more adaptable to avoid many natural condition restrictions, which allows it to provide 24-hour full-day services.
Establish “Mandarin” within the scope of coordinate system
At present, different industries and different places are using different coordinate systems for collecting spatial geographic information, but Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations provides real-time positioning information according to the National 2000 Earth Coordinate System, which is just like the use of “Mandarin” within coordinate systems. Thus, it helps to avoid the chaotic situation caused by the difficulty to effectively share and exchange the data collected by each other.
From “single point positioning” to “differential positioning” in order to improve precision
It is understood that with the increasing demand for location information from various industries and ordinary citizens, satellite navigation reference stations are developing very rapidly, and there are more and more construction subjects with wider and wider distribution range. According to Yang Tiangui, Director of Surveying, Mapping and Science and Technology Division of Yunnan Mapping Surveying and Mapping Bureau, Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations is based on the observation data from the satellite navigation and positioning base-station network of the province. After systematic calculations, systematic positioning error can be predicted. These errors can be corrected by using the time-space correlation of reference station and positioning users. Therefore, users can obtain positioning services with accuracy up to sub-meter level, centimeter, and mini meter level in real time. This kind of positioning method is called “differential positioning”. Compared to “single point positioning”, the biggest difference or superiority of the “differential positioning” model is the higher positioning accuracy. Unlike the normal positioning system which only locate the surrounding area of your destination, the new “differential positioning” can directly help you to locate the destination of the building’s entrance, avoiding the trouble of further confirming or searching for the exact destination. This will become the most obvious convenient experience in the daily life for the public.
Provincial integrated satellite positioning service systems in China with the most stations
It is learned that Yunnan Province has already established one provincial-level control center and 16 state (city) controlled sub-centers, constructing Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations with provincial-state (city) coordinated management, operation and maintenance. The system is compatible with signals from BeiDou satellite navigation system of China, GPS satellite navigation system of the United States and GLONASS satellite navigation system of Russia. It can achieve high-precision and medium-precision navigation and positioning service coverage to the entire province of Yunnan and its surrounding areas. 220 satellite navigation and positioning base stations. It has become a province with the largest number provincial stations among the established provinces and urban areas. It has provided trial services to more than 530 industry users.
The application of Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations is mainly divided into three levels: real-time sub-meter services for the public, real-time centimeter-level services for professional users, and millimeter-level services for specific users.
At present, the application of Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations mainly focuses on the latter two levels. According to statistics, trial services have been provided to more than 530 industry users. More than 2,200 YNCORS network accounts have been signed up in Yunnan province. These users mainly come from industries such as surveying and mapping, land, housing, water conservancy and hydro power, forestry, mining, planning. YNCORS have been widely used for land tenure surveys, urban planning, real estate registration, dynamic management of mine reserves, open-pit mine surveys, and settlement displacement monitoring.
According to reports, the application of real-time sub-meter services for BeiDou navigation has not yet been popularized. Currently, the Provincial Bureau of Surveying and Mapping Geographical Information is carrying out major scientific and technological special research on BeiDou navigation and map services under the support of scientific and technological departments. It is planned to develop related APP applications and SDK developing tools. Some domestic manufacturers have started to produce mobile phones and other mobile devices that can support BeiDou satellite navigation. With the development of related software and hardware, the public may soon enjoy the accuracy and convenience of the system.
Different application methods for different service objects
Different service targets require different conditions for applying for an account. Professional users mostly are the qualification units of surveying and mapping geographic information with independent legal persons, and other units that really need to access to YNCORS system for navigation and positioning service. Those users can submit a service access application and be registered. They can start to use this system after the application being reviewed and approved.
Besides filling out the application form, public users also need supports on hardware and software, especially the support from researching and developing chips that allow the mobile phone to accept this system.
(Extended Content) Three Popular Science Knowledge Formally Launched in Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations
Popular Science Knowledge No.1:
What is the Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations?
Duan Shiming, deputy director of the Institute of Geographical Information, introduced that Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations is a continuous operation reference station system constructed based on satellite positioning technology, computer network technology, and digital communication technology.
According to Duan Shiming, during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, with the approval of the Yunnan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and in accordance with the unified planning and the principle of step-by-step implementation of each city, Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information launched “Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations System Construction Project”. It was basically completed at the end of 2016. Through the one-year trial operation in 2017, the system was stable and reliable to formally provide services to the society.
Duan Shiming further explained that, according to the work plan of the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information, China’s satellite navigation and positioning reference service system will build one national-level center, and each province and city will establish a sub-center as provincial system. Yunnan province currently has established 220 satellite navigation and positioning base stations. It has become a province with the largest number of provincial stations among the established provinces and urban areas, more effectively providing real-time services.
Till now, Yunnan Province has already established one provincial-level control center and 16 state (city) controlled sub-centers, constructing Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations with provincial-state (city) coordinated management, operation and maintenance. The system is compatible with signals from BeiDou satellite navigation system of China, and has achieved high-precision and medium-precision navigation and positioning service coverage to the entire province of Yunnan and its surrounding areas.
Popular Science Knowledge No.2:
What are the best advantages of Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations?
According to Duan Shiming’s introduction, compared with traditional surveying and mapping work, Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations has greatly improved the positioning accuracy and work efficiency. “Traditional surveying and mapping work requires seven to eight hours or more to complete high-precision positioning work, but now it takes only minutes or even seconds.”
At the same time, this system also solves the problem of many limitations to traditional work.
“Traditional surveying and mapping operations require good visibility to be implemented, so its implementation always depends on the weather. The surveying and mapping work cannot be carried out smoothly in morning & evening hours, rainy days and fog days. Besides, it is also susceptible to the conditions of operation scope, terrain condition and so on.” said Duan Shiming. This system now has been put into use and has gotten rid of many natural condition restrictions, which allows it to provide 24-hour full-day services.
At the same time, the system also solves the problem of inconsistent coordinate systems, which meanwhile helps to standardize the safety management of Yunnan base station network.
Popular Science Knowledge No.3:
What services can Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations provide?
According to Duan Shiming’s introduction, the application of Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations mainly provide real-time sub-meter services for the public, real-time centimeter-level services for professional users, and millimeter-level services for specific users. At present, the application of Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations mainly focuses on the latter two levels.
“For the public, we can provide positioning services with sub-meter precision, which means, the positioning error is about one meter (a deviation of tens of centimeters), and this deviation can basically meet the needs of the public.” Yang Tiangui, director of the Bureau of Land Surveying and Mapping of Geographic Information Bureau of Yunnan Province, explained that “For example, almost everyone is using vehicle navigation now. After updating positioning chips, by accessing the mobile internet to the Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations, it is achievable to identify which lane the vehicle is driving on, which lane the vehicle should take at the front turn. And the traffic control department can deal with lane violations and other violations more accurately.”
According to Yang Tiangui, Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations provide positioning services with centimeter-level precision for the users of the industry. For example, users engaged in topographic mapping, mine surveying, urban and rural planning, water conservancy construction, and road and bridge construction lofting can quickly obtain real-time centimeter-level positioning results from Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations system.
For the specific needs of users, Yunnan Continuously Operating Reference Stations system can provide millimeter precision positioning services. For example, the settlement displacement monitoring for large-scale structures such as dams, bridges and high-rise buildings, can obtain millimeter-level positioning accuracy from the system, said Yang Tiangui.
According to Duan Shiming’s explanation, the application of real-time sub-meter services for BeiDou navigation has not yet been popularized. Currently, the Provincial Bureau of Surveying and Mapping Geographical Information is carrying out major scientific and technological research on BeiDou navigation and map services under the support of scientific and technological departments. It is planned to develop related APP applications and SDK developing tools.