What is new in the SNIP 2_03_00 release  [released June 11th 2018]

This is the next release of SNIP following the Rev 2_02_00 release of April 24th.  This release contains a key improvement in the way MAPs are displayed, preventing large maps from delaying SNIP services.

It contains a number of improvements stemming from user feedback on the 2_02 release.  This release supports for both 32-bit and 64-bit installations in Windows.  It is recommended that all Windows 32/64 SNIP installations now update to using this release.

Notable changes in the release include a New Document Viewer

• The primary visual change in this release is the new “document viewer” a browser based way to review larger reports and to view graphical map displays. Pro users of SNIP have asked for a better method to view various reports when there are constant user connections occurring.  The previous method of simply pausing the screen (Pause button located mid-screen right side) becomes insufficient when there are many streams and user connections occurring at the same time.  In the new system each basic report type is given it own tab and can be scrolled and refreshed as (or only when) desired.
• All of the different graphical base map types displayed have also been moved to reside in this viewer.  This in turn allows better isolation from the underlying Google map and java scripts methods being used under the hood.
• The resulting documents are rendered by the chromium engine now used by Qt (on which SNIP is built). Each tab lives in it own memory and threading model so SNIP real time response remains largely isolated from it.
• However, rendering larger Google maps (Casters with 400~1500 points) remains slow and prone to script time outs. We are continuing to address this.  [This is not an issue with our cloud based Caster Table monitoring services at monitor.use-snip.com which we invite you also to use.]
• In addition, a number of new report and styles have been released to use the new viewer, some of which are denoted below.

Other important changes in the release include:

• Removal of a small memory leak with associated with PUSH-In data streams. After ~100k connections this can become noticeable and has been corrected.  Chances are very high that if you have 25k+ connections in a day, some of your end user community is confused and not correctly connecting.  So as you might guess, this was observed on the RTK2go.com network.
• With the exception of an unresolved issue correctly displaying PNG files, the 2_03 Ubuntu edition is also ready for release (built for 64 bit LTS 16.04).
• Many report generation requests are now passed into the general client management portion of SNIP.  This was done as part of the long term Rev 2 feature road map to allow additional remote control and monitoring of your SNIP installation over the web.
• A new report allows a summary of the different NTRIP Agents being used. Sub-reports break this down into smaller summaries for larger user communities.
• A new report provides a more detailed summary of each Base Station, similar to the one found with in the tool-tips when hovering over a stream. This can be requested over the web, if the operator enables it, to allow others to use it.
• Additional information has been added to the General Status report, as well as links to supporting reports and link to map the location of data streams.  When enabled, this report can be requested with /SNIP::STATUS rather than a mountPt name by any browser.  Try it here
• Multiple reports that were placed on the console log are now displayed in the new document viewer.  The longer term design goal is to have all of the longer / larger reports placed in the viewer.
• An Adaptive NEAR stream licensing model has been added for Pro users.  Now, with every additional 10 slots added to the license, an additional NEAR slot is also added.  This provides a means to add-on to the standard Pro ability to run 5 NEAR slots are once.
• Further informative ‘help’ data has been added to the reply text sent when a SNIP-2-SNIP connection fails.  SNIP has the ability, when it sees another SNIP enabled device and this feature is enabled, to send helpful data to the remote connection.  This saves on service and support time for the operator, as the other party is quickly shown a human readable insight into why the connection failed.

Updating

Like all Rev 2.x releases on the Windows platform, one click and painless !  The built-in installer will inform you when a new release is issued.  You can also check on this manually at any time.

When you upgrade (there is no reason not to) the installer will download the new image and install itself, leaving all of your current settings in place.  The SNIP node is taken offline for about 90 seconds before service can then resume.

Please tell us how you use SNIP and how we can make it better.  Feel free to use the free text areas in the survey below to tell us anything else you think we should know.

Drive SNIP’s Feature list with this feedback survey

New to SNIP?  Take a quick tour.

SNIP is an NTRIP Caster.    You can also use SNIP as an NTRIP Server with your existing GNSS devices.  Many deployments use a single paid copy of SNIP (Basic or Pro) in conjuration with multiple copies of SNIP Lite to setup their networks.  This configuration is very cost effective when the GNSS device vendor charges for providing an NTRIP Server option.

If you are seeking for an NTRIP Client, try one of the products mentioned here or here.

You can always obtain the most current release of SNIP here.