However the application for which we need the GPS defines the type that we must acquire.
If it is to orient themselves in the streets or have a placement reference so accuracy is not necessary but if it is required for navigation then a high accuracy is required. E.g. for applications in precision agriculture (or autonomous vehicles like google car) centimeter accuracy is required.
The NMEA plot is usually used to obtain position information and other variables, this gives us a not so exact values, most of the GPS in low-cost (on average $40) gives us an error of 2 to 5 meters of error information. If the GPS has a good antenna and outdoor accuracy can increase up to get less than 1 meter errors.However it can never attain a centimeter with a single GPS accuracy and direct reading of the NMEA plot, the problem is that there is a continuous error caused by a delay in the ionosphere of the wave of communication between satellites and the GPS module. So that the error compensation technique is used, there are different ways to use it but basically what I do is eliminate the error using 2 or more GPS modules.
There are two methods most common of error compensation:
1. Diferential GPS (DGPS)
2. GPS RTK
The DGPS is a sophisticated method that uses two GPS signals to compensate for the error but will reach an accuracy usually between 20cm to 50cm (less than 1 metre). DGPS modules are expensive, approximately between $2000 and $5000.
The GPS RTK is a more sophisticated still, method used above all in navigation in areas with well defined routes. The method is based on use of 1 mobile GPS and other stationary that corrects the mobile GPS. It uses 2 frequencies for this function. Its cost is usually the highest, RTK professional modules costing $10,000 or more.