Accuracy Evaluation of VRS RTK Surveys Inside the GPS CORS Network Operated by National Geographic Information Institute

The positioning accuracies tend to deteriorate as the distance between the rover and the reference station increases in the Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) surveys using Global Positioning System (GPS). To solve this problem, the National Geographic Information Institute (NGII) of Korea has installed Virtual Reference System (VRS), which is one of the network-based RTK systems. In this study, we conducted the accuracy tests of the VRS-RTK surveys. We surveyed 50 control points inside the NGII's GPS Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) network using the VRS-RTK system, and compared the results with the published coordinates to verify the positioning accuracies. We also conducted the general RTK surveys at the same control points. The results showed that the positioning accuracy of the VRS-RTK was comparable to that of the general RTK, because the horizontal positioning accuracy was 3.1 cm while that of general RTK was 2.0 cm. Also the vertical positioning accuracy of VRS-RTK was 6.8 cm.