View device location and position details

When a GNSS device is connected to the computer device, you can view detailed information about the device based on its current location, such as the level of accuracy or the signal of the satellites in view, in the Device Location pane. This topic covers the information in this pane.

Device Location pane

Information about the currently connected GNSS device appears on the first three tabs in this pane. On the fourth tab, you can record changes to the device's location by logging them to a point feature class.

View device location and position details

To open the Device Location pane, complete the following steps:

  1. On the View tab, in the Device Location group, click the lower half of the Enable Location button Enable Location.
  2. Choose Location Details Location Details.

    The Device Location pane appears.

Note:

If no device is connected, or if the device is turned off, the Device Location pane cannot display any information. If the device was previously connected, information from the last available update is displayed instead. You must first connect to the GNSS device and set the active connection in the project settings to use this pane.

GNSS details

The Details tab Details displays location and position fix information about the connected GNSS device. These values cannot be edited. The current measure of accuracy and the amount of time that has passed since the last update displays at the top of the pane. In addition to the device's current latitude, longitude, and altitude, the pane shows speed, heading, and accuracy.

Fix details—such as the quality indicator display, number of satellites visible and used, and the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)—update if the status of the connection changes.

The Dilution Precision subsection displays the horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP) and vertical dilution of precision (VDOP) values. This is an effect of the current position's satellite distribution. The positional dilution of precision (PDOP) value is a combination of these two values.

All information displayed in the pane updates periodically to reflect any changes from the device.

Satellite signal strength

The Satellite signal strength tab Satellite signal strength displays the strength of the signal of every satellite in view received by the device, in decibels (dB). The length of the bars and the numbered values both represent the strength of the signal. The values update automatically based on the satellites in view and their signal strength.

Satellite locations

The Satellite locations tab Satellite locations shows the relative location of every satellite in view. The device's location is at the center of the map, and the compass map represents the entire earth.

On top of this map, each point marker represents the location of a satellite in view. The number inside each marker is the satellite number, which corresponds to the numbers on the Satellite signal strength tab. You can hover over a satellite's marker to view additional information about its location relative to the device. Satellite information updates automatically every few seconds.

Log data

On the Log data tab Log data, you can write a record of the current location of your device to a point feature class. To learn more, see Write location data to a log.