GNSS Realtime Data | EarthScope Consortium

man lifts battery into GPS station enclosure — Engineer Sean Malloy servicing station FERN. (Photo: Scott Johnson/EarthScope)

We provide real-time GNSS data streams over the NTRIP protocol for both commercial and noncommercial use. These streams originate from multiple sources, including the Network of the Americas (NOTA) and partner organizations. The data are transmitted as raw GNSS in RTCM 3.3 and BINEX formats at a rate of 1 Hz. These formats include data from all constellations and signals, although individual receivers may only transmit a subset. RTCM 3.3 streams are provided using the MSM7 message type. A small number of stations also provide onboard point positioning solutions in NMEA GGK or GSOF format.

Noncommercial Use

GNSS data streams are available at no cost for scientific, educational, or humanitarian use under our noncommercial license. This license allows unlimited access to data streams. Under this license, users may not sell or distribute the data or any derived products for a fee or as a method to collect downstream fees. These licenses expire after one year, but you can create a new license at any time.

Commercial Use

GNSS data streams are available for commercial use for a fee under our commercial license. Commercial licenses are priced at $1,000 per seat and are valid for one year. The definition of a seat is outlined below. Licenses can be modified at any time to increase the number of seats. When this occurs, the license is extended for one year from the time of modification. The cost for the new seat count is calculated at $1,000 per seat with a prorated credit for the unused portion of the existing license. Licenses can also be renewed annually at the same rate.

Commercial licenses can be paid via credit card using Stripe or through direct billing. Direct billing is only available for licenses with a minimum of five seats. This applies to new licenses, seat changes, and renewals. For direct billing, licenses are activated immediately and include a two-week grace period to allow time for payment. Invoices are issued for both new and renewing licenses.

Seats

A seat allows for one concurrent connection to a data stream. Seats are not tied to specific streams or stations. Users may switch streams at will, but cannot exceed the number of unique streams accessed at the same time beyond their seat count. Multiple connections to the same stream count as one seat. For example, accessing P041_RTCM3P3 twice for redundancy counts as a single seat. Seat usage is shared across all EarthScope caster instances regardless of port or hostname.

Noncommercial users have unlimited seat access. Commercial licenses are sold by the seat. Not all mountpoints require a seat. Most RTCM data streams do, but BINEX streams do not. Seat requirements are indicated in the NTRIP caster sourcetable. In the sourcetable, the 17th field indicates whether a seat is required. A value of Y means a seat is required, while N means it is not. EarthScope also includes a custom 19th field that explicitly states SEAT_REQUIRED or UNLIMITED.

Commercial users who only need access to unlimited data streams may obtain a zero-seat license. These licenses are free but must be renewed annually.

Trial License

A trial license is available and provides access to five seats for a period of two weeks. Each account is eligible for one trial license.

Access

License management is available on the user licenses page and requires a valid EarthScope login. If you do not have an account, you will be guided through the creation process. This is the starting point for creating new licenses. Renewals and seat increases with credit card payment are also handled through this site. Once your license is active, your NTRIP credentials can be accessed from this same page.

Payment options

There are two methods of payment for commercial licenses, credit card payments processed through Stripe and direct billing through our accounting department. A five seat minimum is required to pay through direct billing.

Casters

The NTRIP caster hostname is ntrip.earthscope.org. Multiple ports are used based on the data type:

Port 2101: Raw RTCM 3.3 streams with mountpoints named using the format PNUM_RTCM3P3
Port 2105: Raw BINEX streams with mountpoints named using the format PNUM_BINEX
Port 2108: Onboard point positioning solutions in either GGK or GSOF format with mountpoints named PNUM_ONBOARD_PPP_GGK or PNUM_ONBOARD_PPP_GSOF

Transition Plan

We are transitioning both our caster and our license model. The old caster, rtgpsout.earthscope.org, is being retired on July 29, 2025. Accounts for the old caster do not work for the new caster, you must reregister and create either a commercial or noncommercial license. Furthermore, the layout of what data formats on what ports is changing as part of this transition. On April 29, 2025, we will stop creating accounts on the old caster. On July 29, 2025, we will switch rtgpsout.earthscope.org to point to the new caster using the new accounts.

Help

For support or questions, email data-help@earthscope.org. The prior email (rtgps@earthscope.org) is no longer in service.

FAQ

All raw data streams use the ITRF2008 reference frame. For NOTA stations, the epoch date is 2023-05-17. For non-NOTA stations, positions in the stream are best estimates and do not include a precise epoch date.

Log in to the user licenses page. There you will find a communication portal associated with your license. You can comment directly in the portal, and you should have also received an email with this information.

You will need an NTRIP client. Some software packages include this functionality, or you can use standalone clients such as BNC. Your username and password are available at the license management site. EarthScope uses basic authentication for its caster.

No, the new service requires accepting either the commercial or noncommercial license. Credentials minted via email for the old caster will not work.

NTRIP clients use a sourcetable to display available data streams. Most clients have a built-in interface for viewing this. Alternatively, if you have curl installed, you can run:

curl -H "Ntrip-Version: Ntrip/2.0" ntrip.earthscope.org:2101

Replace 2101 with the appropriate port. The sourcetable only displays active streams and includes mountpoint names and seat requirement information.

Commercial licenses can be renewed while they are still active. You can access your license on the user licenses page, click on the more menu on the license, and select “Renew”. A renewal will extend the contract for 1 year from the current license expiration date.

Commercial licenses can be adjusted to increase the number of seats while they are still active. You can access your license on the user licenses page, click on the more menu on the license, and select “Add Seats”. This will extend the license for an additional year at the new number of seats. The remaining value of the previous license is applied to the new license. For example a license for one year starting on January 1 for ten seats costs $10,000. If six months later on July 1, the number of seats is increased to twenty seats, the cost of the adjustment is $15,000 dollars—$20,000 dollars for twenty seats for a year, but the initial license has a pro-rated value of $5,000 dollars. The new license will be active till July 1 of the next year.

First check to make sure your username and password are for the correct caster system. The old caster and new caster use different licenses and they are not compatible. If you are using a username and password generated from email correspondence, it will not work on ntrip.earthscope.org. Please make sure you are using ntrip.earthscope.org and acquiring the username and password from the user licenses page.

If you have confirmed your username and password are for the correct caster system, then please note they are case sensitive. You should also check on the user licenses page to ensure the license has not expired. For commercial licenses paid via direct billing, there is a two week grace period where we await successful payment and honor the license, so it is possible you have extended beyond this grace period without completing the payment and license activation.

Unfortunately, we no longer provide RTCM 3.1 data streams, only RTCM 3.3. This is a more modern format that includes full-constellation, full-signal data.