Here goes Fall 2021 at UWF - starting with: Data Quality!

Back for another semester at UWF, welcome Fall 2021!

This semester starts with the Special Topics in GIS course. This time, I am an official Master's student that has completed the GIS certificate. Off to a quick start, we are determining the quality of data using a statistical analysis of the acquired coordinates.

For the first lab, the "estimates of the precision of the results," or accuracy and precision statistics, are measured using calculations of the horizontal and vertical positions, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE). In other words, the GPS precision is figured using the distance the points fall from the average location, while the accuracy uses a "true value" or true location usually collected from surveying equipment as a reference point.

The numerical results for horizontal accuracy were about 3.4 meters, while the horizontal precision (68%) was about 6.7 meters. The precision was based on three difference percentiles:

Although a difficult concept to grasp, the methods seemed upfront and useful. This process may require some practice, but it can provide essential guidelines and insights for use of collected data. I can see how important it would be to get a second opinion/critique of these type of results, because human error is also a concern when figuring these systematic errors.

I am looking forward to learning more about the foundation of data quality; stay tuned for next week's second lab on Data Quality Standards!