GPS Corrections and Their General Uses

After many years of precision agricultural use, many questions still exist of what is the correct correction for each operation. I have listed the corrections available and a brief description of their uses.

Wide Area Augmentation Signal (WAAS) –

Accuracy: < 6-8”

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

This free service provides performance suitable for agriculture applications in which accuracy and repeatability are not of the highest concern. It's most popular for broadacre crop spraying and tillage applications.

Omnistar XP-

Accuracy: 3-5" (8-12 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

An OmniSTAR® service for high-performance broadacre spraying and land-tillage applications in which the vehicle will be operating in areas with open views of the sky at all times. OmniSTAR XP requires a convergence period at startup. Omnistar XP is most popular for boom shutoff systems on sprayers and tillage applications.

Omnistar HP-

Accuracy: 2-4" (5-10 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

An OmniSTAR® service suitable for high-performance broadacre seeding, spraying, and harvesting applications in which the vehicle will be operating in areas with open views of the sky at all times. OmniSTAR HP requires a convergence period at startup. Omnistar HP is popular for broadacre planting, spraying and harvest solutions.

Trimble’s RTX-

Accuracy: 1.5" (3.8 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

The new Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX™ Correction Service delivers GNSS enabled, repeatable 1.5" (3.8 cm) corrections via satellite or cellular network directly to your receiver anywhere in the world. CenterPoint RTX works with the built-in GNSS receiver in your existing Trimble FmX® integrated display, CFX-750™ display, or AG-372 GNSS receiver. Trimble’s RTX is becoming increasingly popular with cash crop planting using row controls, side dressing, no-till operations, small veggie crops where size does not dictate RTK investments.

RTK Base or Cellular-

Accuracy: < 1" (2.5 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: < 1 minute

CenterPoint RTK is well suited for row-crop planting, strip tilling, land leveling and other water management applications in which the best horizontal and vertical accuracy is required. Repeatable accuracy is available anywhere, with cellular/base station systems. Advancements in base station technologies now allow for no line of sight restrictions, and distances up to 20 Miles.

Agricultural GPS systems are no longer about straight lines, it is about intregration into your operation, your future plans and increasing profitability. Data acquisition, yield mapping and variable rate application are all becoming main stream to today’s farmers. Without properly installation, calibrated and training you will not be able to maximize your investment. Ensure you make the right choices, your yields will thank you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul Smith is the owner of Northern Equipment Solutions and based in Central Ontario, Canada. Providing Quality Potato Equipment, Precision Agriculture and Other Advanced Equipment, Northern Equipment Solutions ensures that your profits and yields are maximized. www.northernequipment.ca or sales@northernequipment.ca

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Iain Robson on January 2, 2013 at 11:55pm: Awesome, thanks very much Paul.

I will look into it. For a small initial investment, it could improve yields, which would be huge.

Also, the new website looks great.

Comment by Paul Smith on January 2, 2013 at 5:52pm: Generally WAAS is a good starting point for any precision purchase, it can cover some of your less accurate requirements on the farm including some planting, sprayering, manure application and fertilizer spreading all areas where accuracy will have very positive returns in quality and reduced costs of inputs

Comment by Iain Robson on January 2, 2013 at 2:40am: Great post Paul.

Which one would you suggest for a starter gps?

RSS

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Fertilizer Canada responds to U.S. tariff threat

The U.S. can’t increase its fertilizer production overnight, Fertilizer Canada says

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Welcomes Three Directors to Board

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) is pleased to announce the results of its Board of Directors election, following the close of voting on November 28. The election brings one new Director to the board while retaining two Directors for another term. Joining the SPG Board is Dan Flynn of Lucky Lake. SPG welcomes back Robyn Henry of Hodgeville and Stuart Lawrence of Rosetown, who were both re-elected. The newly elected Directors will officially join SPG’s Board in January 2026, following the organization’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). “On behalf of the Board, I would like to congratulate Dan, Robyn, and Stuart,” says SPG Chair Winston van Staveren. “Each elected member brings valuable experience, expertise, and diverse perspectives that represent a wide range of growing regions across the province. I also want to thank all the candidates who put their names forward. The increased level of engagement and strong slate of candidates this year was positive to see.” Van Staveren also ack

Pulse Market Insight #287

Big Crops But No Surprises From StatsCan The long-awaited 2025 yield and production estimates from StatsCan were released this week but were a bit anticlimactic; anyone looking for a surprise in the numbers would have been disappointed. Yes, crops were certainly larger this year but that was already expected. During harvest, reports of very large yields kept coming in, well above StatsCan’s August and September numbers. As a result, this month’s higher yield estimates from StatsCan were anticipated. In fact, it would have been a shock if the yield numbers hadn’t changed. These latest estimates from StatsCan were based on a large farmer survey conducted in November and confirmed the positive harvest results. In fact, they may have understated the actual yields, as they sometimes do. The StatsCan numbers show the total 2025 pulse crop at 8.22 mln tonnes, a jump of more than 2 million tonnes from last year and the largest production since 2016/17. There were differences for each of the

Alberta Grains and Western Crop Innovations Launch Three-Year Agreement to Strengthen Barley Breeding in Alberta

Alberta Grains (AG) and Western Crop Innovations (WCI) have signed a new three-year Breeding and Technician Chair agreement to advance feed barley breeding in Alberta. Announced at the Alberta Grains Regional Meeting in Lacombe, the partnership represents a $600,000 investment from Alberta Grains, delivered at $200,000 per year, to fund a breeder and senior technician dedicated to high-impact barley research and variety development. Strengthening the Future of Public Plant Breeding in Canada Cereal breeding in Canada has long relied on public funding, but the landscape is rapidly shifting. With the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) moving forward on Seed Regulatory Modernization and farmers urging Prime Minister Carney’s government to recognize agriculture’s economic importance, the need for sustainable public plant breeding has become a national discussion. At the same time, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) faces budget reductions and plans to exit variety development i

Maizex Seeds Invests in the Future of Seed Corn Production in Canada

Maizex Seeds, the seed division of Sollio Agriculture, announces the groundbreaking of a major $8.8 million investment in a new seed corn processing and packaging plant at their Blenheim, Ontario, facility. Maizex Seeds is a national company producing and selling corn and soybean seeds to farmers from coast to coast in Canada under the Maizex brand. The company also sells forage seeds and cereal varieties to farmers in eastern Canada and recently introduced several canola hybrids.

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service