iii
Abstract
This document contains a brief history of program development, user instructions, result interpretation,
and technical guidelines for the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) tool OPUS Projects (OP). OP extends
the existing OPUS tools for uploading,
processing, and sharing (previously call publishing) to include
geodetic network solutions by baseline processing of simultaneous GNSS observations, called sessions,
followed by a least squares adjustment containing one or more sessions. Collectively, the data, session
solutions, least squares adjustment and results are called a project. Like OPUS, OP is web-based
software implying that a user must have access to the Internet and the use of a web
browser in order to
use this tool. Access to OP is through the
Projects
link on the OPUS upload web page at
http://geodesy.noaa.gov/OPUS/
, or directly using the URL:
http://geodesy.noaa.gov/OPUS-Projects/
.
In order to create OP projects, the user must have received OPUS Projects Manager Training either
through an NGS live workshop, webinar or one-one instruction from another OP manager. To see the
availability of and register for a live workshop, go to the NGS Corbin Training Center’s
Calendar of
Upcoming Classes
(
http://geodesy.noaa.gov/corbin/calendar.shtml
). Registration for
a class is on a first
come, first served basis till the class is full, typical class sizes are 25 – 30 people. These workshops
provide hands-on training using a sample project provided as part of the training. The basic workshop is
two days in length; extended workshops, up to five days in length, covering the additional steps needed
to publish to the NGS integrated database (NGSIDB) also are available. Through this
training, an
attendee’s email address is registered with OP (similar to registering to share your solution thru OPUS)
and they can begin creating projects.
Once created, projects are stored on an NGS server and web pages specific to each project are created.
A user uploads static GNSS (currently only GPS observations are used), dual-frequency observation files
and records the antenna models and ARP heights used in their project through OPUS-S
1
by providing a
unique identifier assigned to the project when it was created. All subsequent project activity is through
the project’s web pages. Baseline processing is performed by the PAGES program and the least squares
adjustment by the GPSCOM program (both built into OP) in a combined process where the results of the
PAGES baseline processing are passed directly to GPSCOM for the least squares adjustment. Solution
reports contain coordinates for the observed project marks (monuments) as well
as Continuously
Operating Reference Stations (CORS) included in the project’s processing. These coordinates are
reported in the current geometric (aka "horizontal") datum realization of the National Spatial Reference
System (NSRS). In the future the project manager may have the option to share (sharing is still in
development) the project mark solutions with the OPUS-DB (OPUS database). It is possible with
additional training to formally submit mark solutions via the bluebooking process (currently external to
OP) into the NGS Integrated Database. OP supports the bluebooking process by preparing output files
(b-file, g-file, and serfil) for use with the bluebooking process utilizing the least squares
adjustment
program ADJUST.
OP was created to provide all users with NSRS three-dimensional coordinate results for GNSS networks.
The NGS and others have begun testing to use OP to process FAA, height modernization, regional
networks, real-time networks and other special survey projects.
Lead Author: Mark L. Armstrong
1
Although there are other current processing engines (OPUS-RS) and future planned processing engines, OPUS-S is
currently the only processing engine in the OPUS suite of products supporting the upload of data into a project of
OPUS Projects.
iv
Revision History
Draft v1.0 (First draft) - 31 October, 2011
-------------------
Draft v1.1 - 4 April, 2012
-------------------
Draft v2.0 - 30 April, 2013
-------------------
Draft v2.1 - 21 June, 2013 – Review – NGS Corbin Workshop 24-28 June, 2013
-------------------
Draft v2.2 - 20 September, 2013 - Review
-------------------
Draft v2.3 - 31 January, 2014 - - NGS Clearance
-------------------
Release v2.4 - 30 April, 2014 - - Operational
Version
-------------------
Release v2.5 - 05 August, 2015 - - Annual Update 2015 Edition
This document is formatted for double sided printing