Machine control

In civil engineering, machine control is used to accurately position earthwork machinery based on 3D design models and GPS systems, and thus aid machine operators to e.g. control the position of a road grader's blade. Many machine control systems utilize the Real Time Kinematic (RTK) system to improve the positioning accuracy.

There are four dominant manufacturers of machine control systems: MOBA Mobile Automation AG, Trimble Navigation Limited, Topcon Positioning Systems and Leica Geosystems. In 2010, The Kellogg Report was published to serve as a resource for comparing the systems from these and other manufacturers.