EVALUATION OF OYO STATE COR STATIONS FOR REAL TIME KINEMATIC (RTK) SURVEY.

This project was undertaken to evaluate the operational performance and spatial efficiency of the Oyo State Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) survey applications. The study focused on six CORS stations FSSC (Oyo), IBAD (Ibadan), ISEY (Iseyin), SAKI (Saki), OGBM (Ogbomosho), and IGBR (Igbo-Ora) of which only three were functional during fieldwork. Fifteen known ground control points across four local government areas within the Oyo Federal Constituency were observed using both Static GNSS and RTK techniques. Data were processed and analyzed using Trimble Business Center (TBC) and South Geomatics Office (SGO) software, while positional accuracy was evaluated statistically through Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) computations. Results revealed that the FSSC (Oyo) and IBAD (Ibadan) CORS stations achieved superior accuracy and stability, with average RMSE values of 1.50 m (Northing), 0.67 m (Easting), and 0.82 m (Height), while the ISEY (Iseyin) station exhibited higher errors 2.69 m, 2.18 m, and 1.82 m, respectively. These variations were attributed to differences in power stability, signal coverage, and maintenance frequency. The findings confirm that Oyo State’s active CORS can reliably support high-precision RTK surveying, engineering, and mapping tasks. However, periodic maintenance, improved power infrastructure, and network expansion are essential to enhance system reliability and statewide coverage. This Project concludes that the CORS network holds substantial potential for advancing geospatial data acquisition and sustainable infrastructural development in Oyo State and Nigeria at large.