Toitū Te Whenua stores data for all PositioNZ stations in the PositioNZ RINEX data archive. RINEX (receiver independent exchange) is an internationally recognised format for a range of data including GNSS (global navigation satellite system) observation, navigation and clock data. Toitū Te Whenua collects and stores RINEX data from the GPS (Global Positioning System, USA) and GLONASS (Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, Russia) satellite constellations.
PositioNZ RINEX archive data have 30 second intervals and are supplied with a 1-hour or 24-hour duration.
Downloading RINEX files
Data files are available within a few hours of the end of a collection period. They can be downloaded through our web-form or through the file’s URL.
The URL for RINEX files uses the following format:https://www.geodesy.linz.govt.nz/positionz/rinex/codeddds.yyt
RINEX file conventions
PositioNZ RINEX files are created and stored in terms of the IGS (International GNSS Service) standards.
RINEX file naming convention
The RINEX files are named according to the convention codeddds.yyt.
| code | The mark’s geodetic code (in lower case), such as ‘auck’ for Auckland. Navigation files use the code ‘auto’. |
|---|---|
| ddd | The day number of the year of the observations, starting at 001 on 1 January of each year |
| s | The session code for the observations. This is ‘0’ for a 24-hour data file. Hourly sessions are named ‘a’ to ‘x’ where ‘a’ is from00:00 hours to 01:00 hours (UTC time), ’b’ is 01:00 to 02:00 etc |
| yy | The last two digits of the year of the observations, such as ‘23’ for 2023 |
| t | The type of data in the file: ‘o’ for uncompressed observation files, ‘d’ for observation files with the Hatanaka compression ‘’n’ for navigation files. Note: Files with a Unix compression applied have the extension ‘.Z’ appended to the file name. |
RINEX file compression convention
RINEX files can be compressed using one or both of the following schemes:
Hatanaka compression, which reduces the size of RINEX files by removing unneeded information. Specialised software is required to convert RINEX to or from Hatanaka format.
Unix compression, a generic compression method available on most platforms (for example, WinZip on Microsoft Windows).
Download Hatanaka compression software
RINEX observation file (.yyo) convention
| Observation period | 24 hour | 1 hour |
|---|---|---|
| RINEX version | 2.11 | 2.11 |
| Frequency/epoch | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Availability from end of observation period (95% of the time) | 24 hours | 2 hours |
| Stations | All PositioNZ stations | All PositioNZ stations |
| Constellations | GPS/GLONASS | GPS/GLONASS |
RINEX navigation files
The navigation files that accompany PositioNZ RINEX observation files are collected from PositioNZ receivers, but are collected from the relevant international GNSS service analysis centre.
GPS constellation navigation files (.yyn)
These are collected from SOPAC (Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center) at the University of California, San Diego.
GLONASS constellation navigation files (.yyg)
These are available for download from CDDIS (Crustal Dynamics Data Information System), NASA’s space geodesy project.