GPS – Understanding Rinex Header GPS Position Coordinate System

gpspyprojrinex

I am extracting data from rinex observation files and would like to convert the approximate position to latitude and longitude using Proj.4. The rinex standard states that these coordinates are WGS84, which I assume refers to the ellipsoid. What are the Proj4 parameters I need to do the conversion? If this is not possible is there another route I can take? Specifically I'm using the pyproj Python library. The correct coordinates should be close to (45.4343,-123.5516).

I am using RTKLib to process the observations, but want to automate downloading the base station/CORS files.

I did just find this code that performs the conversion. I've ported it to Python and it works well for my needs. Still if there is a way to get Proj4 to do this that would be ideal as I use that library for other projects.

Here is the Python I've tested:

In [29]: prj = pyproj.Proj(proj='geocent',ellps='WGS84',datum='WGS84')

In [30]: prj(-2478053.2006,-3736604.9657)
Out[30]: (1e+30, 1e+30)

In [31]: prj(-2478053.2006,-3736604.9657,inverse=True)
Out[31]: (-22.260730649602785, -33.5664935140521)

Here is an example header.

     2.00           OBSERVATION DATA    M (MIXED)           RINEX VERSION / TYPE
                                        20180413 230424 UTC PGM / RUN BY / DATE 
28jxmqr6                                                    MARKER NAME         
                                                            MARKER NUMBER       
                    off                                     OBSERVER / AGENCY   
100037              BE-GPS-3300         2.1.47              REC # / TYPE / VERS 
                                                            ANT # / TYPE        
 -2478053.2006 -3736604.9657  4521684.4805                  APPROX POSITION XYZ 
        0.0000        0.0000        0.0000                  ANTENNA: DELTA H/E/N
     1     1                                                WAVELENGTH FACT L1/2
     4    C1    L1    C2    L2                              # / TYPES OF OBSERV 
  2018     4    13    19     8   50.5000000     GPS         TIME OF FIRST OBS   
  2018     4    13    19    23   28.0000000     GPS         TIME OF LAST OBS    
                                                            END OF HEADER

Best Answer

The geocentric coordinates can be converted to latitude, longitude, and altitude by using the pyproj.transform function. The Proj.__call__ method does not accept Z values, which are required for the transformation.

In [6]: p1 = pyproj.Proj(proj='geocent',ellps='WGS84',datum='WGS84',units='m',no_defs=True)

In [7]: p2 = pyproj.Proj(init='epsg:4326')

In [8]: pyproj.transform(p1,p2,-2478053.2006,-3736604.9657,4521684.4805)
Out[8]: (-123.55166435788638, 45.43449642806122, 450.48841851670295)

The output is equivalent to the following cs2cs input:

cs2cs +proj=geocent +ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +no_defs +units=m +to +init=epsg:4326 -f "%.8f"
-2478053.2006 -3736604.9657  4521684.4805
-123.55166436   45.43449643 450.48841852
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