I am a university scientist. I have a small one-off project that could be enabled using GPS. What low-cost or free packages including hardware and software are around?
NERC has a pool of precise GPS equipment that is available on loan for some academic research. This includes PC-based processing software. See their website http://www.glg.ed.ac.uk/gep/ for details of equipment and eligibility. Alternatively, some cheap handheld receivers are capable of producing output that can be logged in RINEX form, which can be processed using public-domain or trial software. If you are only interested in results to within a couple of metres and have a suitable laptop or PDA, this should work OK. See http://artico.lma.fi.upm.es/numerico/miembros/antonio/async also the University of Nottingham has a data handling and processing package called Gringo that works with Garmin receivers see http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/iessg/gringo (Extracted from correspondence at the BIGF Forum on JISCmail).
