What is RINEX format?
A. RINEX stands for Receiver Independent Exchange and is a globally accepted standard format for GPS data. Most GPS processing software will read in RINEX data as well as the manufacturer’s proprietary binary format. This allows data from different manufacturer’s receivers to be processed together which can be very difficult if data in only the proprietary binary format is available. Most GPS manufacturers should also supply a conversion utility to convert their binary format files to RINEX files. All GPS data from the Ordnance Survey Active GPS Network stations is supplied in RINEX format to ensure maximum compatibility with all the different GPS processing software that users may have. RINEX files usually come in pairs – a file of GPS observations (the “o” file) and a file of corresponding satellite positions (the “n” file). Generally GPS processing software will require both “o” and “n” files to be present in order to read in the RINEX data. There is a naming convention for RINEX fi