Reference Station Opinios

[DerekHouston]

I wanted to hear some feedback and opinions about CORS stations and UNAVCO, if any.

[Steve Martin]

UNAVCO is a great group, a lot of top notch people work, or have worked there. They are not in the survey business however, so asking Surveyors what they think about a support group for Scientific research projects might not get you accurate feedback on what they do.

One such research project is the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) which has installed hundreds of geodetic quality GPS reference stations throughout the west. While the NSF funding for the PBO project dictates specific scientific uses of the money, PBO has made available GPS reference station data to other organizations and many surveyors rely on this reference data for their surveys. PBO, however does not have funding or mandate to support the Surveying community (hundreds of phone calls, etc.), they would prefer that someone else, such as CSRC manage this survey community outreach.
CSRC currently has almost no funding. So if the purpose of your post is to find out about CORS station support, no funding equals no support.

[Matt Cunningham]

I have 2 friends (they are a married couple) that work for UNAVCO in Boulder, CO. Actually, I think one works for NGS on the CORS project, but funding comes from several sources. The other works for UNAVCO as a PBO scientist. Both of them have been very helpful to me in regard to GPS, both related to surveying and otherwise. I have talked with several of their colleagues on the phone over the years and have had the same experience. The general feeling I get is that thay are all top-notch professionals and willingly share their knowledge with the public. They also like to get feedback on what we surveyors (GPS users) are experiencing in the field every day.