QGIS is a free and open source geographic information system. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and reads practically every geospatial format out there. Municipalities, engineering firms, ecologists and utility contractors use it every day to view, edit and analyse spatial data.
On its own, QGIS is an office tool. Connect it to an RTK GNSS receiver and it becomes a field tool: every point you record lands in your project to the centimetre, in the right coordinate system, ready to use.
How the QGIS GNSS receiver connection works
Die UNI-GR2 RTK-GNSS-Empfänger sends its position as a standard NMEA stream over Bluetooth, and QGIS picks that stream up through its built-in GPS panel. The setup takes a few minutes:
- Pair the UNI-GR2 with your Windows laptop or tablet over Bluetooth.
- Note the COM port your operating system assigns to the receiver, and set it under Settings, Options, GPS.
- Open the GPS Information panel in QGIS and press Connect.
- Check that the receiver has an RTK fix through a correction service such as UNI-RTK.
- Start digitising. Every point, line or polygon you capture uses the live RTK position.
With an RTK fix, the UNI-GR2 measures to the centimetre. Compare that to the rough position a laptop or tablet manages on its own, and it is clear why the receiver makes the difference between “roughly there” and data you can build on.
When we first tested this setup at our office in Hilversum, on an earlier generation of our receiver, it held an RTK fix right next to our three-storey building. Shading and reflection are exactly where consumer GPS gives up, so that test mattered.
A concrete example
Say a municipal green team manages 12,000 trees in QGIS. An inspector walks the park with a pole-mounted UNI-GR2 and a tablet running QGIS, records each new planting as a point with species and planting year as attributes, and the tree register is up to date before the crew drives off. The paper list and the afternoon of retyping are gone.
The same workflow applies to drainage inspections, street furniture, cables and pipes in an open trench, or any other asset your organisation already manages in QGIS.
Live connection or UNI-Collect?
The live QGIS connection suits GIS specialists who work in QGIS all day. Field crews that mainly survey and stake out are usually faster with our UNI-Collect app: measure in the field, sync with UNI-Cloud, then export to CSV, DXF or DWG and load the files into QGIS. Both routes end in the same place: your data in QGIS, centimetre-accurate.
QGIS is also one of several GIS packages that work with our receivers. We have the same kind of integration with Mapit GIS, and our 2019 post ESRI ArcGIS Data Collector & marXact covers Collector for ArcGIS.
Erste Schritte
You need 3 things: QGIS (free), a UNI-GR2 and an RTK correction subscription. Everything together, including the app, cloud environment and pole, is available as one package: survey it yourself with the UNI-Collect Survey Package.
New to the field? Start with our explainer on Was ist Vermessung?.
Questions about connecting your QGIS environment? Contact us, we are happy to help you set it up.