Why Sites Get Faster with RTK: Fewer Personnel, Less Rework, and Zero Re-measurements

Table of Contents

• Introduction

• What is RTK?

• Reason 1. Surveying with Fewer People (Personnel Reduction)

• Reason 2. Preventing Mistakes with Digital Surveying (Reduced Rework)

• Reason 3. Instant On-site Verification (Eliminating Re-measurements)

• Simple Surveying with LRTK

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Introduction

Site supervisors at civil construction companies, municipal civil engineering staff, and engineers at design offices—do you feel challenges with surveying work on site? For roadworks, slope maintenance, land development, water and sewer installation, bridge inspections, and other infrastructure tasks, accurate surveying is indispensable. At the same time, surveying often requires a lot of effort, time, and personnel, which can put pressure on schedules and costs.

In recent years, the construction industry has faced chronic labor shortages and an aging workforce, increasing the need to operate sites efficiently with limited personnel. One solution attracting attention is a positioning technology called RTK. RTK (Real Time Kinematic), an advanced satellite positioning method, enables real-time surveying with centimeter-level accuracy (cm-level accuracy, half-inch accuracy), and is changing conventional expectations of surveying. Why does using RTK so dramatically speed up on-site work? This article focuses on the three benefits RTK brings—“personnel reduction,” “rework reduction,” and “eliminating re-measurements”—and explains the reasons in detail.

What is RTK?

RTK stands for Real Time Kinematic, a technique that links two GNSS receivers (a base station and a rover) via communication to correct satellite positioning error sources in real time and measure positions with high precision. Standalone GPS positioning can have errors of several meters (several ft) due to satellite signal errors, but RTK surveying can achieve accuracies of several centimeters (a few inches) both horizontally and vertically. Because it can meet the accuracy requirements of civil engineering surveying, RTK has spread since the 1990s as an alternative to optical instruments such as total stations.

Recently, the use of RTK-GNSS is also recommended in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s i-Construction (ICT construction) initiatives. RTK has become indispensable in digital construction workflows such as drone photogrammetry and machine guidance for construction equipment. However, traditional RTK equipment had large, expensive antennas and base station units and required specialized knowledge to operate. Setting up a dedicated base station or using radio communications added complexity, so the reality was “high precision but not easy to use.” Recently, however, GNSS receivers have become smaller and cheaper, and network RTK environments (e.g., VRS) that allow use of base station data over the Internet are becoming established. These technological innovations are making it realistic to complete surveying work that used to require two or more people with a single person.

Reason 1. Surveying with Fewer People (Personnel Reduction)

Traditional surveying typically involved teams of two to three people, including highly skilled technicians. For example, one person sets up and operates a surveying instrument like a total station while another stands at a distant point with a staff (rod) or prism. They must coordinate by radio or hand signals to align positions, and this coordinated work from setup to teardown took considerable time and effort. When there are many measurement points or the site is extensive, surveying operations could take an entire day. A task that took two people a half day (for example, four hours) represents a combined eight person-hours of labor, adding to overall site costs.

Introducing RTK surveying can greatly simplify this staffing. A single operator carrying an RTK receiver (rover) can move through the site and acquire coordinates for measurement points one after another. A dedicated base station operator is unnecessary if you use public CORS (continuously operating reference stations) or a temporary simple base station.

• Traditional method: Setting up tripods and surveying instruments and leveling takes time, and measurements are taken point by point while communicating with the staff member. Covering a wide area requires reconfiguring equipment or adding personnel.

• RTK surveying: Turn on the GNSS receiver, receive correction information, and you can move around the site alone and instantly obtain coordinates for each point. Surveying finishes quickly without large teams or complicated procedures.

As a result, “single-person surveying” becomes possible, and in some cases personnel needs can be reduced to less than half of conventional levels. Fewer required personnel reduces labor costs and makes scheduling easier. Even if a seasoned surveyor is not always on site, other staff can perform surveys with RTK equipment during available time, reducing the risk of the entire project stalling while waiting for surveying. Working alone also reduces burdens such as placing assistants on narrow roads, enhancing safety. For example, on busy roads where people previously had to stand on the carriageway for surveys, RTK enables quick measurements from the shoulder, improving safety.

Reason 2. Preventing Mistakes with Digital Surveying (Reduced Rework)

Another issue is rework caused by human recording or communication errors. In conventional surveying, a staff member reads off rod graduations on-site while someone records them by hand in a field notebook, and later those notes are converted into drawings or data in the office. This analog workflow carries the risk of human error, such as:

• Mistyping or misreading numbers.

• Omitting notes during transcription.

When such mistakes occur, you must correct survey data later or return to the site to re-measure, causing rework. Interrupting design or construction progress to redo surveying leads to schedule delays and extra costs.

Using RTK, data acquisition and use can be handled digitally end-to-end, greatly reducing these errors. Coordinates obtained by the RTK receiver are recorded as electronic data on the spot, eliminating the need to decipher handwritten field notes later. Point names and attributes can be input directly on a field terminal, preventing misreading or data-entry mistakes. The obtained values can be immediately imported into CAD software or 3D models or shared with team members via the cloud. This reduces information loss between the field and the office and brings rework due to recording errors close to zero.

Reason 3. Instant On-site Verification (Eliminating Re-measurements)

Another major benefit of RTK is eliminating re-measurements. Traditionally, it was not uncommon to discover errors or omissions only after bringing survey data back to the office for checking. If crucial measurement points were missed or recorded incorrectly, the team had to return to the site to perform additional measurements. Time and manpower constraints sometimes led teams to reduce the number of measured points with a “this will be fine” approach, only to face problems later that required urgent re-measurements.

RTK surveying can prevent such backtracking. Because coordinates are obtained immediately during measurement, you can confirm results on site in real time. If a value seems off, you can re-measure on the spot to verify it, and it’s easy to add measurement points as needed. In particular, network RTK allows directly measuring multiple distant points individually to understand their positional relationships, avoiding the need to leave any points “to be measured later.” You can obtain all necessary data on the first pass and eliminate the situation of having to “go back and measure again.”

For example, in disaster recovery sites where conditions change rapidly, it’s important to capture all necessary information in one survey. RTK can cover wide areas in a short time, greatly reducing the burden of returning to the field for re-measurements.

Simple Surveying with LRTK

To maximize RTK’s advantages, it is important to choose easy-to-use equipment that anyone on site can operate. LRTK was developed precisely to meet this need as a next-generation single-person surveying solution. Combining a smartphone with a small RTK-GNSS receiver, LRTK lets even non-experts perform centimeter-level positioning (cm-level accuracy, half-inch accuracy) with simple operation. Heavy tripods and complex setups are unnecessary; you can walk the site with the device mounted on a helmet and acquire 3D survey data.

In sites where it has already been introduced, LRTK has dramatically reduced surveying effort. For example, one civil engineering site reported about a 30% reduction in surveying man-hours from the first week of LRTK adoption. For companies struggling with labor shortages, LRTK—which enables quick single-person surveying—can be a powerful helper. LRTK’s easy, ad-hoc surveying capability is effective for various tasks such as road alignment surveys, slope inspections, buried water and sewer pipeline surveys, and maintenance management of infrastructure structures like bridges. It may become the new normal for future sites.

Conclusion

In today’s sites, where labor shortages and pressure to shorten schedules are increasing, RTK surveying can truly be a lifesaving technology. The three effects—“fewer personnel needed,” “fewer do-overs due to mistakes,” and “one-pass completion”—deliver speed and efficiency that conventional surveying methods could not achieve. The use of RTK is spreading across civil and construction fields such as roadworks, slope management, water and sewer installation, and infrastructure inspections. Actively adopting digital surveying technologies promoted by the government can dramatically improve on-site productivity and safety. Furthermore, intuitive modern equipment allows younger staff to take on surveying duties even when experienced personnel are scarce, easing concerns about skill transfer between generations.

Embracing new technologies rather than clinging to traditional methods will be key to future site operations. Why not experience RTK-based surveying efficiency for yourself? As a trump card for on-site DX, it is likely to provide great value. If you are concerned about adoption, try RTK surveying experimentally on a small site to directly feel its benefits.

FAQ

Q: What do I need to use RTK surveying? A: You need an RTK-capable GNSS receiver (rover) and correction data from a base station to improve positioning accuracy. Basically, in addition to the RTK device itself, you need correction information received by the rover (such as an Internet-based VRS service or CORS data) and an open sky environment where satellites can be observed. Recent products integrate the rover and a communication terminal, automatically connecting to correction data via cellular communication, so operation is possible without special infrastructure.

Q: How accurate is RTK surveying? A: In good conditions, you can obtain horizontal position errors of about 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) and vertical (elevation) accuracy of about 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in). This accuracy is comparable to conventional surveying using a total station. However, poor satellite reception environments reduce accuracy and can sometimes result in errors on the order of tens of centimeters (tens of inches). To consistently achieve centimeter-class precision, it is desirable to measure in locations with as wide an open sky as possible.

Q: Can RTK be used in bad weather or areas with many obstructions? A: Rain or cloud cover generally has little effect on RTK surveying. However, in environments where satellite signals are blocked—such as inside forests or between high-rise buildings—accuracy degrades or positioning may fail. Because satellite signals cannot penetrate concrete or thick trees, GNSS surveying in general, including RTK, must be used outdoors with a clear view of the sky.

Q: Do I need qualifications or special skills to operate RTK equipment? A: No national qualifications are required to perform RTK surveying. Anyone who purchases the equipment can use it. Operation has been simplified in recent years, and some products allow surveying by following prompts on a smartphone screen. Basic surveying knowledge is preferable, but many systems are designed so that non-specialist users can operate them. Therefore, first-time RTK users need not be overly concerned.

Q: Aren’t RTK devices expensive and difficult to introduce? A: RTK-capable surveying equipment used to be very expensive, but affordable and easy-to-use devices are now available. Products that combine a high-performance smartphone with a small GNSS receiver have made RTK more accessible. Additionally, if you use base station services provided by the government or private sector, you don’t need to set up an expensive base station yourself, keeping operating costs down. Many companies are adopting RTK at relatively low cost by using subsidies or rental options.

Q: How should I choose between total station surveying and RTK surveying? A: Each has strengths, and it’s best to use them according to site conditions. Total stations excel at highly precise relative measurements down to the millimeter within line-of-sight ranges and are suitable for setting out details of buildings and structures. RTK is superior for absolute coordinate measurements over wide areas and for reducing personnel, and it can survey efficiently in a short time where the sky is open. Optical surveying equipment remains necessary where obstructions are significant, but by combining the two methods as appropriate, you can maximize overall surveying efficiency and accuracy.

Q: Can RTK surveying be done in mountainous areas without cellular coverage? A: There are methods to perform RTK-like surveying even without Internet connectivity. One method is the traditional approach of setting up your own mobile base station and transmitting correction information to the rover by radio. In Japan, you can also use the “Michibiki” satellite augmentation service (CLAS) to achieve centimeter-class positioning without a base station. With a CLAS-compatible receiver, you can perform high-accuracy surveying in mountainous areas or remote islands outside cellular coverage.