Jeddah CORS/ VRS: Design, Establishment, and Testing

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

Geodetic infrastructure traditionally consisted of physical (passive) geodetic marks in the ground and the associated
data, including coordinates and datum. Over the past two decades, there has been a move away from providing passive
geodetic marks to providing active control networks via Continuously Operating GNSS Reference Station (CORS)
networks. Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) is one of the hot developments of GNSS at present. Its
appearance has brought profound change to the surveying and mapping industry, and many cities and regions all over
the world have built several CORS systems now. Jeddah Municipality (JM) established a Virtual Reference Stations
(VRS) GPS network for different survey applications. JM provides the users with VRS service to enable them to reach
a real time cm-accuracy of horizontal position with single GPS receiver. This paper introduces Jeddah CORS/VRS
design, establishment as well as its assessment using static and Real Time Kinematic (RTK) methods. The results
indicate that, Jeddah CORS/VRS complies with the design requirements and can provide centimetre level positioning
services.