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Soft-Art has been developing GPS software and selling GPS systems for 4 years. Starting with the popular PC Survey desktop surveying software, we integrated GPS processing into our Survey functions and designed it to be as close to fully automatic as possible. Our philosophy has been that the majority of our customers not only don't have the background to understand the complexities of GPS processing - a difficult mathematical process - but also don't want to spend time trying to make questionable GPS data work by tweaking, pruning, reversing, convulsing, stretching, or offering burnt sacrifices to the Navstar GPS god. Instead we concentrated on developing procedures and software that ensure high success rates in data collection and then made the processing as quick and painless as possible.
What is somewhat surprising to learn about GPS is that, unlike most products, the choice of hardware has very little impact on the quality of the results... In other words, all GPS systems produce the same result. It doesn't make any difference whose product you buy in this regard because GPS accuracy is not dependent on the receiver in any of the systems that are currently being marketed for surveying. The difference between systems is primarily in the software.
One of the primary advantages is that we are a software company trying to do hardware. We are not a hardware company trying to write software. If the product was a complex piece of hardware, like a total station, we would be at a huge disadvantage. However, GPS system components are readily available to anyone with the interest. It costs significantly less than $20,000 to buy all the hardware necessary to assemble an RTK system. The problem is that, when you are done, you can't use it without obtaining software for interfacing to the system and processing the data. This is where a lot of the cost comes into the picture. But, since we have been writing surveying software since the 80's, we were in a position to develop this product with a reasonable investment.
Another advantage that we have is that we sell direct. On a system costing over $40,000, you are probably spending at least $10,000 for the dealer's markup, and the dealer is already paying a manufacturer's markup of about the same amount. In bypassing a dealer's markup and buying directly from a company like us, you can save a LOT of money.
Yet another advantage is that, since you are dealing directly with the developers of the product, you don't have to go through the painful exercise of finding someone who really understands GPS if you encounter difficulties.
Another consideration is that this is a highly integrated system. The desktop software and data collector software were designed to work with each other as well as with the GPS and total station hardware. With this system, you can collect field data, transfer it to the desktop and design a subdivision, transfer THAT design back to the data collector and stake it out with our RTK GPS system, disconnect from that and plug into your total station to take some shots buried in the trees. One software system at one very low price.
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