SURVEYING FOR AEC Jason Schilling DOUGLAS COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS needed a GNSS rover to support its UAS operations. The pay-as-you-go option was appealing as they only needed high-precision a few times per month. BY Gavin GNSS Rover Versatility Schrock, Contributing Editor H An all-of-the-above approach lead to the novel design of a rover system that can serve a wide variety of field surveying and mapping applications. To inform the design of the Flex, Bad Elf listened to field users who wished for a scalable solution in a single rover, rather than having to buy multiple different models, and without breaking the bank. precision for ground control points to geolocate the images from the UAS,” said Schilling. He was aware of the high cost of centimeter-precision-capable surveying rovers and it was too big of an investment, considering that he only did UAS mapping a few times a month. As an existing Bad Elf customer on the company mailing list, Schilling learned about the new Flex rover, which offered multiple options, and he found one that seemed quite enticing for the needs of his utility. Schilling purchased a Flex Standard bundle at a low base price, about $3,000, with the pay-as-you-go plan for high precision. In the standard configuration, the Flex is capable of autonomous positioning (1–5 m), and mapping grade (sub-meter precisions) igh precision GNSS rovers play a vital role in a broad variety of field surveying and mapping applications. Different users have different value propositions in mind when choosing field hardware and software: expected precision, sources of corrections, configurations for specific workflows, and, of course, cost. Weighing these many considerations, GNSS manufacturers have come up with portfolios of multiple models to fill these varied needs. That said, GNSS manufacturer Bad Elf took a different approach when it designed its flagship rover, the Bad Elf Flex. The Flex is designed to meet the cost-precision-workflow needs of everyone, from asset mappers to surveyors. (Hence the name “Flex.”) Options for the Infrequent User “I had one of the little Bad Elf GNSS surveyor handhelds for many years,” said Jason Schilling, wildlife biologist with Douglas County Public Utility District in central Washington State. “That worked great for rough mapping, between a foot and a meter of precision, and I could connect it via Bluetooth to mapping software on my mobile.” But this all changed when Schilling began an unmanned aerial system (UAS) program for the utility several years ago. “I really needed survey-level 22 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM | FEBRUARY 2023
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