ABSTRACT
The words “baseline” and “vector” are often used interchangeably when discussing spatial data. Vendor-specific baseline processing software provides the geocentric ΔX/ΔY/ΔZ components for each vector when processing global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data. The GNSS network is built from independent vectors but the ΔX/ΔY/ΔZ components are called measurements because they are correlated. A side note is that GNSS loops can also be solved using observations only. One difference is that a GNSS loop carries three different linear components simultaneously. The GNSS network example includes the full covariance matrix of each baseline in the adjustment. If, however, baseline components are correlated, they should be called measurements and the covariance matrix will have elements on the off-diagonals. In either case, the weight matrix used in the adjustment is the inverse of the covariance matrix. Standard matrix manipulation tools can be used to obtain a solution.
