Wisconsin Department of Transportation: Wisconsin making progress on height modernization program

Diane Arendt,
WisDOT Surveying and Mapping

(608) 516-6368,

diane.arendt@dot.wi.gov

Wisconsin making progress on height modernization program

System uses GPS technology to provide the agricultural and construction industry, land surveyors and other users with consistent, accurate positioning information

Wisconsin is making progress on its Height Modernization Program using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology and wireless communication equipment to provide farmers, land surveyors and others with highly accurate, three-dimensional positioning information in real-time.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), in partnership with the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), is working with public and private sector partners to implement a network of about 80 Continuously Operating Reference Stations (WISCORS) across Wisconsin. More than half of the planned WISCORS stations are already installed, with the network expected to be fully operational statewide by 2014.

WISCORS, which began development in Wisconsin in 2006, is reliant upon cooperation with partners who have agreed to host permanent GPS base stations and provide infrastructure support. The network’s base stations are spaced about 30 miles apart, receive GPS satellite information and stream the observed data over the internet to a central server. Data is currently made available for no charge to properly equipped users 24 hours a day/seven days a week, enabling high accuracy positioning throughout the network.

“Right now, the fastest growing user group of the WISCORS network is precision agriculture,” said Diane Arendt with WisDOT’s Height Modernization Program. “Farmers utilize the system to guide planting, improve pesticide and fertilizer application coverage, and to compute crop yields.” Along with precision agriculture, other WISCORS applications include the design and construction of roads, bridges and other public infrastructure, along with floodplain mapping.

When utilized in conjunction with the extensive network of passive geodetic control stations established by the Height Modernization program, the WISCORS network provides highly accurate, three-dimensional positioning in real-time and significantly reduces costs associated with conventional surveying techniques. “Wisconsin is recognized as a national leader in implementing this type of Height Modernization program,” Arendt said.

More information on the WISCORS system can be found on the WisDOT website: https://wiscors.dot.wi.gov/.