Application of GPS RTK and Total Station System on Dynamic Monitoring Land Use

Abstract

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an all-weather, space-based navigation system. The real time kinematic (RTK) positioning is one of the most popular topics in civilian applications. Normally, RTK can be used to collect the land use change information successfully and quickly. However, RTK doesn’t work in some cases, such as in urban areas or under trees. Then, those classical terrestrial methods, such as total station systems, can be used to aid RTK. Since the collected land use change information using either RTK or total station system will be entered to an existed land management system. Hence, the land use change styles of the interested region could be classified into a certain number of groups from the point view of Geographic Information System (GIS). In order to reduce the field surveying works of RTK and/or total station, as well as collect the spatial information of the interested land use change region promptly and accurately, it is necessary to design an optimized and effective field surveying procedure by means of analyzing the land use change styles and environmental characteristics of the interested region. Based on the above-mentioned concept, a study project has been undertaking at the National Cheng-Chi University (NCCU). Specifically speaking, the following issues will be addressed in this project: (1) performance comparisons between using RTK and using total station system on land use data capture and updating in terms of accuracy, speed, etc., (2) land use change styles analysis on the interested regions, (3) designing an effective land-use change spatial information collecting procedure using GPS based on the land use change styles, and (4) converting collected land use change data to GIS compatible files. The campus of NCCU was selected as a test region to test the performances of RTK and total station system on land use change data collection. The cadastral maps (on different times) of Mu-Za district of Taipei City were analyzed to find the possible land use change styles. Preliminary results indicate that: (1) the horizontal accuracies of RTK and total station system are14 mm+/-4mm and 163mm+/-63mm respectively (the coordinates of check points were determined using static GPS), (2) the time required for one point determination using RTK or total station system are about 15 seconds and 240 seconds respectively, (3) the land use change styles of Mu-Za district can be classified into 3 main types of polygon (each main type may have 2-3 styles), and (4) the field surveying works can be reduced significantly if the designed fielding surveying procedures were followed. The main concepts of NCCU project, test procedures and test results will be described and presented in this paper. * Corresponding author