GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards

The GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards (GGOS BPS) is hosted at DGFI-TUM since 2011. It is operated together with partners from TUM's Institute of Astronomical and Physical Geodesy, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and the DLR German Aerospace Center. The GGOS BPS has been established as a component of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) to provide geodetic products with highest accuracy, consistency, temporal and spatial resolution referred to a unique and long-term stable reference frame. The official website of the GGOS BPS can be accessed here.

A major goal of the GGOS BPS is to coordinate the establishment and maintainance of unique standards for the processing of geodetic observations for geometric and for gravimetric techniques within GGOS and IAG. The geodetic standards include, i.e., physical units and constants, mathematical-physical models for geodetic observations and reduction models. Various standards have been defined for specific geodetic fields (e.g., IAG Resolutions, IERS Conventions) which form the basis for the work of the BPS. However, the standards presently in use are not fully consistent and they do not cover the full spectrum of geodetic products.

Thus it is an important task of the GGOS BPS to compile a consistent set of "GGOS Standards and Conventions" and to distribute them among the geodetic and the broader scientific community, to recommend their use and to support various applications. Towards this aim, the GGOS BPS shall establish an inventory of geodetic standards, identify deficits and gaps and organize the improvement and updating of geodetic standards. The GGOS BPS is also in charge, to strictly observe that the compliance with the standards and conventions to guarantee consistence of the geodetic products. The figure below shows the organizational structure of GGOS.

Organizational Structure of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS)

Selected Publications

Angermann D., Gruber T., Gerstl M., Heinkelmann R., Hugentobler U., Sánchez L., Steigenberger P.: Bureau of Products and Standards: Inventory of standards and conventions used for the generation of IAG products. The Geodesists' Handbook 2020, Journal of Geodesy, 94(11), 221–292, 10.1007/s00190-020-01434-z, 2020 (Open Access)
Angermann D., Gruber T., Gerstl M., Heinkelmann R., Hugentobler U., Sanchez L., Steigenberger P.: GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards. In: Drewes H., Kuglitsch F. (Eds.), Travaux de l'AIG 41, 2019
Angermann D., Gruber T., Gerstl M., Heinkelmann R., Hugentobler U., Sánchez L., Steigenberger P.: GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards: Recent Activities and Future Plans. In: Freymueller J., Sánchez L. (Eds.), International Symposium on Advancing Geodesy in a Changing World, 10.1007/1345_2018_28 , 2018
Angermann D., Gruber T., Gerstl M., Hugentobler U., Heinkelmann R., Sanchez L., Steigenberger P.: GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards. In: Drewes H., Kuglitsch F. (Eds.), Travaux de l’AIG 40, 2017
Angermann D., Gruber T., Gerstl M., Heinkelmann R., Hugentobler U., Sánchez L., Steigenberger P.: GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards: Inventory of standards and conventions used for the generation of IAG products. The Geodesists' Handbook 2016, Journal of Geodesy, 90(10), 1095-1156, 10.1007/s00190-016-0948-z, 2016

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