Method and apparatus ofr position determining

In agricultural equipment having a satellite reception unit for position finding in the three-dimensional terrestrial reference system, and a processing unit which from the data received by the satellite reception unit determines the absolute position of at least one reference point which is spatially separate from the location of the satellite reception unit, the spatial distance between the satellite reception unit and the reference point being known in value, the improvement comprising:

• at least one sensor for finding the position of the equipment i.e., alignment and orientation of the equipment in the horizontal plane of the terrestrial reference system and/or the longitudinal or transverse inclination of the equipment relative to the vertical direction of the reference system, in a memory of the processing unit for a given marked position of the equipment—preferably longitudinal direction of the equipment in the N-S direction with the front facing north and without longitudinal or transverse inclination of the equipment—at least one equipment-specific base conversion quantity (XP0−XA0;
• YP0−YA0;
• ZP0−ZA0;
• φ0;
• α0;
• β0;
• d1, d2;
• d3) can be stored, —the sensor(s) detecting at least one deviation (φ, α, β) of the position from the aligned neutral position, and the processing unit with the aid of this deviation (φ, α, β) and taking into account at least one equipment-specific base conversion quantity (φ0;
• α0;
• β0;
• d1, d2;
• d3) in each case determining the current conversion quantity for finding the coordinates (XA, YA, ZA) of the reference point which is spatially at a distance from the satellite reception unit, from the known position coordinates (XP, YP, ZP) of the satellite reception unit.

A method for position finding in the three-dimensional terrestrial reference system comprising:

• (a) determining the absolute position in the three-dimensional terrestrial reference system using a satellite reception unit;
• (b) determining the distance between the satellite reception unit and a reference point spatially separate from the location of the satellite reception unit using at least one sensor;
• (c) storing equipment-specific base conversion quantities in memory accessible by the processing unit;
• and
• (d) determining the absolute position of the reference point with a processing unit and the data received by the satellite reception unit.