What is a staking guidance app? Introducing the latest tool that changes conventional field surveying

Table of contents

• Traditional staking work and challenges

• What is a staking guidance app?

• How staking guidance apps work and their main features

• Benefits of introducing a staking guidance app

• Points and precautions for field implementation

• Simple surveying with LRTK

• FAQ

When people think of surveying work on site, the common image is a total station or optical instruments mounted on a large tripod, operated by a professional surveyor. In fact, staking tasks such as driving stakes at locations specified by drawings have long been processes that depended on experienced technicians. They required handling advanced specialized equipment, making the work feel out of reach for many people.

However, in recent years a new surveying tool that combines smartphones with compact positioning devices has emerged and is beginning to dramatically change conventional field surveying. One of the most notable is the “staking guidance app” that navigates workers to target points. By simply following guidance displayed on the smartphone screen, anyone can perform positioning (stake driving) with centimeter-level accuracy (half-inch accuracy), and an era is approaching in which site staff can perform staking themselves without relying on surveying specialists. This article explains the challenges of traditional staking methods and the mechanism and features of staking guidance apps that have appeared as a solution. It also describes the benefits of introducing the latest tools and points for on-site application, and concludes with an introduction to simple surveying using LRTK.

Traditional staking work and challenges

Traditional staking (positioning) work on construction sites has been performed using surveying instruments such as transits, auto levels, total stations (TS), and tape measures. To determine on-site stake points from coordinate values on drawings, one must calculate offsets and batter boards from reference points, set up optical instruments, and measure angles and distances while marking positions. For this reason, there were several challenges with traditional methods. The main problems are as follows.

• Heavy manpower and long work time: Staking usually requires two or more workers, with one operating the surveying instrument and another moving to the target point to place a stake, requiring coordinated work. Positioning a single point took time and effort, and on large sites it could take days to set out all the stakes.

• Dependence on skilled technicians: Accurate staking requires advanced knowledge and experience. Operating surveying equipment and calculating coordinates from drawings are highly specialized tasks, and it is difficult for anyone other than veteran surveyors to perform them error-free. New staff are prone to staking mistakes, and labor shortages and skill transfer are major issues.

• Environmental constraints such as line-of-sight: Optical TS surveying requires an unobstructed line of sight between the instrument and the target point. In cluttered sites where materials and heavy machinery are moving or during night work, securing a line of sight is difficult, limiting visibility of stake positions. Extra effort may be required to move obstacles or set up temporary lighting for surveying.

• Risk of human error: Mistakes such as misreading a tape measure or misplacing a mark are unavoidable. If a stake position is off by even a few centimeters (a few inches), rework will be required later because “the positions don’t match,” directly causing schedule delays and additional costs. Under the pressure that a single mistake is unacceptable, workers are forced to remain constantly tense.

• Barriers to equipment and system adoption: High-performance total stations and automatic tracking systems that save labor exist, but they are very expensive and require time to master. Therefore, they are difficult for small- to medium-sized sites or teams outside the surveying specialty to adopt, and the long-standing need for a simpler way to ensure accuracy remained unmet.

What is a staking guidance app?

A staking guidance app for smartphones appeared to solve the above problems. This is an innovative system that combines a smartphone with a high-precision GNSS receiver (RTK-capable device) and intuitively guides workers to design coordinate positions. The key technology is RTK (Real Time Kinematic), which uses correction information sent from a base station to correct satellite positioning errors such as GPS in real time and achieve accuracies within a few centimeters (a few inches). By attaching a dedicated compact RTK-GNSS receiver to a smartphone and linking it with a smartphone app, the phone itself becomes a surveying instrument with centimeter-level accuracy (half-inch accuracy).

In this app, when you select design coordinates prepared in the cloud or on the smartphone, the screen begins guiding you to the target point (stake location). The smartphone screen constantly displays an arrow indicating the target direction and the distance from the current position, and the user simply walks following those instructions to be guided to the exact point. By activating the camera, you can also use an AR (augmented reality) feature that overlays pins or markers onto the actual camera view. For example, when looking at the ground through the smartphone camera, a virtual stake appears at the design position. This allows users to intuitively understand “where to drive the stake,” and enables positioning work without specialized surveying knowledge.

How staking guidance apps work and their main features

Smartphone staking guidance apps are equipped with various features to enable accurate and simple positioning. Representative points include the following.

• Centimeter-level high-accuracy positioning: With an RTK-capable GNSS receiver and app, it is possible to achieve horizontal accuracy of a few cm (a few in) and vertical accuracy of a few cm (a few in). Devices that support multi-frequency satellite signals can provide stable positioning even in areas shaded by construction equipment, and some products can directly receive the centimeter-class augmentation service (CLAS) provided by Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System “Michibiki.” This enables high accuracy to be maintained even in mountainous areas outside mobile network coverage.

• Real-time guidance display: The smartphone screen displays the target bearing and remaining distance in real time, and as you approach the specified coordinate you can receive fine guidance such as “5 cm to the east” (5 cm (2.0 in)). Users can reach target positions by simply following the screen’s arrow and distance display without performing complex calculations. There is reassurance in having the device constantly indicate the correct direction rather than relying on a skilled worker’s “intuition” or verbal cues.

• Visual navigation with AR: In addition to simple arrow displays, AR functionality overlays virtual objects on the smartphone camera view. Stakes or markers appear on the ground at design positions, making it easy to understand intuitively “this is the target point.” Even at night, you can use a light to illuminate the ground and view the AR markers on the camera screen to recognize the guidance markers in the dark.

• Data integration and automatic recording: The app can read a pre-uploaded coordinate list (design values) and use it to guide stake placement. Conversely, coordinates of points measured on site are automatically saved to the cloud and can later be checked on an office PC or reflected in CAD drawings. There is no need to bring back handwritten notes in paper field books, and digital data can be immediately shared and utilized.

• Easy operation and quality control: The smartphone app interface is intuitive and designed so that people without specialized knowledge can master it in a short training period. Difficult settings and calculations are handled automatically by the system, so users only need to follow on-screen instructions. The app also displays GNSS reception status and RTK correction application at a glance, so you can always monitor whether centimeter accuracy is being achieved. Warnings are displayed when satellite count is insufficient or accuracy deteriorates, providing reassurance for quality control.

Benefits of introducing a staking guidance app

Introducing a modern staking guidance app on site can eliminate many inefficiencies of traditional methods at once. Specific benefits include the following.

• Labor savings and dramatic improvement in work efficiency: Because a single person can walk the site with a smartphone and receiver and perform staking, the multi-person work of the past can be drastically reduced. Even for moderately sized stake layouts, work can be completed in a short time, and there are reports of tasks that formerly required “several people and a whole day” being finished within a few hours. Even in sites suffering from severe labor shortages, limited personnel can progress construction efficiently.

• Quick response and flexibility: If design changes or additional survey points arise, you can promptly perform positioning yourself during machine downtime. There is no need to arrange an external surveying team or wait for equipment to be delivered; the ability to respond immediately to “we need to measure now” is a major advantage. Adjustments such as re-establishing reference lines during construction can also be done on the spot, reducing process bottlenecks.

• Ensured accuracy and reduced mistakes: RTK positioning provides horizontal accuracy on the order of a few centimeters (a few inches), which is sufficient for construction surveying tolerances. Where human error previously caused positional deviations, following digital guidance ensures that the device consistently indicates the correct point, preventing rework due to stake placement mistakes. Staking results are recorded as coordinate data, making it easy to verify positions later or reuse them with other equipment. From a quality control perspective, there is reassurance in being able to substantiate the accuracy of each operation with data.

• Lower barrier to skill acquisition: Intuitive screen operations allow non-experts to take part in staking work. Since specialized surveying knowledge and difficult calculations are unnecessary, new staff can become productive on site after short training. In workplaces troubled by retirement or lack of experienced personnel, a digital tool that “anyone can operate” smooths generational transitions and fills skill-transfer gaps.

• Improved safety and working environment: GNSS positioning does not require line-of-sight to machinery, so points can be established individually from locations where satellites are receivable even on cluttered sites. There is no need to hold a prism in awkward positions at heights or on poor footing, minimizing entry into hazardous areas. Eliminating the need to station people around the site to guide by voice also reduces distraction around operating heavy machinery and enables safer progress.

Points and precautions for field implementation

Even an innovative staking guidance app requires attention to several points to be smoothly utilized on site. The main cautions during introduction and operation are summarized below.

• Coordinate system compatibility: If the project is designed using a public surveying coordinate system (World Geodetic System), smartphone RTK positioning results can be used directly as design coordinates. However, for sites that use a local coordinate system (custom origin/orientation), you need to perform a fit using known points. Observe several known points (reference points) with RTK on site beforehand and set coordinate transformation parameters (translation and rotation) in the app based on the observed errors. Many guidance apps include a local coordinate transformation feature, and simply entering the coordinates of known points will automatically apply corrections. If you set up your own base station, calibrating it against a public control point before work ensures reliability.

• Communication and positioning environment: RTK positioning via GNSS requires a communication environment to receive correction information (for network RTK). Check the site’s radio conditions and prepare mobile routers as needed. In remote mountainous areas outside mobile coverage, devices that can receive Michibiki’s CLAS signal can continue high-precision positioning offline. Also, since satellite positioning requires a clear view of the sky, accuracy can drop significantly in urban areas surrounded by tall buildings, in tunnels, or indoors. Assess whether the site provides a suitable sky view and consider combining with traditional methods when necessary.

• Accuracy verification and backup: Although coordinates obtained with guidance apps are generally high-precision, it is wise to perform accuracy checks for critical stake placements or reference line setting. For example, verify the error when matching smartphone RTK to known points, or observe the same point multiple times and average the results to improve accuracy. Some apps provide a function to observe multiple times and compute an average. For areas requiring millimeter-level accuracy, combine multiple measured points with string lines and fine-tune as a hybrid approach to balance overall efficiency and precision.

• Organizing operation workflows: To establish a new digital tool on site, it is important to set up an operational structure for its use. Provide thorough user training for site staff at introduction and update procedure manuals and inspection methods for staking. Also decide in advance how to utilize the positioning data. Establish rules for how to reflect cloud-stored results in drawings and reports and migrate from paper-based management so that the high-precision data you acquire is utilized to the fullest.

Simple surveying with LRTK

One concrete solution that enables the smartphone staking described above is “LRTK.” LRTK is a versatile surveying system developed by a university-origin startup company that integrates a compact RTK-GNSS receiver, a smartphone app, and cloud services. By attaching a dedicated receiver weighing only approximately 125 g to your smartphone, the phone quickly becomes a centimeter-accurate surveying device. The receiver is cable-free and easy to mount, and the built-in battery runs for about 6 hours, providing assurance for on-site work.

LRTK’s positioning accuracy rivals that of existing high-end surveying equipment. Single-point positioning yields planar position errors of approximately 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) and elevation errors within about 3 cm (1.2 in), and averaging multiple observations in the app can further reduce errors. The app automatically determines whether a high-precision RTK fix has been obtained and issues warnings if accuracy is insufficient. Of course, it fully equips the staking guidance app features introduced in this article, including guidance to design coordinates, AR display, coordinate data import/export, and cloud sharing. It supports Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority control point network and Michibiki satellites, demonstrating strong performance from mountainous areas to urban sites.

At a bridge foundation construction site that adopted LRTK, a staking task that normally required a surveying team of two to three people for more than half a day was completed quickly by a single construction manager. The entire stake coordinate list imported into the smartphone was called up on site, and by following the screen guidance the manager marked each point and accurately set stake centers one after another. The obtained stake coordinates were saved to the cloud on the spot and immediately reflected in as-built drawings upon returning to the office. By using LRTK, you can dramatically improve on-site surveying productivity and reliability.

The LRTK series also complies with the requirements of *i-Construction* (ICT construction) promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and is a solution that strongly supports digital transformation in the construction industry. By mastering this latest tool that balances labor-saving, efficiency, and quality assurance in surveying work, consider advancing your company’s sites to the next stage.

FAQ

Q: What do I need to use a staking guidance app? A: Basically, you need a smartphone and a dedicated receiver that supports high-precision GNSS (an RTK-capable device). Attach a small receiver to the smartphone and install the staking guidance app. To ensure positioning accuracy, prepare an environment that can obtain correction information via the Internet (mobile communication or pocket Wi‑Fi). If you must use the system offline, devices that can receive Michibiki’s augmentation signal can perform RTK positioning without communication.

Q: What level of positioning accuracy can I obtain? A: Under favorable GNSS reception conditions, you can generally obtain horizontal accuracy of about 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) and vertical accuracy of a few cm (a few in) (accuracy decreases where satellite signals are blocked). This accuracy is sufficient for common stake driving and as-built control, and is comparable to traditional TS-based staking. Furthermore, observing the same point multiple times and averaging the results can approach millimeter-level accuracy.

Q: What kinds of sites and applications are suitable? A: It can be used for almost any stake-driving task such as setting reference stakes for civil engineering works or positioning on building sites. It is powerful even on complex terrain with poor line-of-sight, as long as GNSS reception is available. Besides stake driving, it is useful in a variety of surveying scenes such as ground elevation surveys, boundary point checks, and recording buried equipment or piping locations. In short, outdoor positioning work is largely covered wherever people can stand and the sky is visible.

Q: Can people without surveying experience use it? A: Yes, it is intuitive enough for non-experts to operate. You simply move according to the arrows or AR markers displayed on the app, so there is no need to think about complex calculations or equipment handling. With basic prior training, non-surveyor site staff should be able to carry out actual stake-driving tasks.

Q: How do I import design data and use surveying results? A: Many apps have import/export functions for coordinate data. For example, if you upload a stake coordinate list (CSV or LandXML format, etc.) to the cloud before construction, you can select and use those data on site for guidance. Conversely, points collected on site are automatically saved to the cloud and can be downloaded as CSV for reflection in CAD drawings as needed. This digital data integration is convenient and eliminates the need for paper drawings or USB transfers.

Q: Can it be used in rain or at night? A: GNSS surveying is generally less affected by weather, so light rain does not significantly change accuracy. LRTK receivers are splash-resistant and operate in rain, and AR markers on the screen are visible at night if you illuminate the ground with a headlamp or work light. However, stop work in heavy storms with lightning for safety. Also, in environments with many tall buildings or structures nearby, satellites may be harder to track, so exercise caution depending on conditions.