Precise positioning data from NGS’ Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network provided vital assistance following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake centered near Anchorage, AK, on November 30
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With 991 attendees, NGS' November webinar, "
Vertical Datum Changes for Floodplain Mapping, surpassed all previous NGS webinar attendance levels. The webinar provided an introduction to geodetic control in the context of flood mapping, presented case studies highlighting the importance of well-defined heights, and outlined the expected impacts of a modernized vertical datum on flood maps and related products.
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The NGS Testing and Training Center in Woodford, VA, hosted a competition between surveying teams from the United States and China. The competition was sponsored by the National Society of Professional Surveyors in partnership with the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping, the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, and Trimble, Inc.
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NGS briefed the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on its program activities as part of a new NASEM study on geodetic infrastructure.The study, titled "Evolving the Geodetic Infrastructure to Meet New Scientific Needs," addresses improvements to the national infrastructure...
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Two NGS staff members gave the keynote address at the International Federation of Surveyors Young Surveyors North American Meeting in College Park, Maryland. Their presentation, titled “NSRS, The Future, and You,” connected the past, present, and future of...
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The NGS Testing and Training Center, located near Fredericksburg, VA, hosted a team from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) to test the Corps’navigational buoy transceivers...
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NGS is partnering with the Maryland Geological Survey to monitor the gradual settling or sudden sinking (subsidence) of the Earth's surface at groundwater pumping stations in southern Maryland. In many of the state’s coastal communities, drinking water comes from groundwater pumped from aquifers of varying depths...
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NGS gave presentations on modernizing the U.S. National
Spatial Reference System and regional reference frames for North America at
the Geocentric Reference System for the Americas Symposium in
Aguascalientes, Mexico...
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NGS collected, processed, and posted on its website
aerial imagery of areas affected by Hurricane Michael. Imagery was
processed and posted online within approximately four hours of the flights,
and may be viewed online via the
NGS aerial imagery viewer ...
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NGS recently completed a scoping study to investigate how to reprocess
older survey observations to be compatible with the new
National Spatial
Reference System (NSRS)
database...
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NGS created a dynamic web-based map of Surface Elevation Table (SET)
sampling stations for the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative (CBSSC)....
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At a meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee
(CGSIC), several NGS scientists described the significant upcoming changes
for the surveying, mapping, and geosciences community with modernization of
the
National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) in 2022...
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NGS is collecting damage-assessment imagery of areas
identified by NOAA in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management
Agency as well as other state and federal interests. A team of NOAA
aviators and sensor operators is capturing the images via specialized
remote-sensing cameras...
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NGS led a
webinar that describes efforts to modernize the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) by 2022. The webinar is part of the Geobytes webinar series, a free online offering from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing...
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NGS and the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and
Services (CO-OPS) cooperated to upgrade communications and power systems at
four
Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) sites co-located with
water-level stations in the Great Lakes region....
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NGS recently conducted a site survey at the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Brewster, WA. The objective of the survey was to
precisely measure the geospatial relationship between reference points
associated with a Very Long Baseline Array antenna station and a co-located
Global Navigation Satellite System and
Continuously Operating Reference
Station (CORS)...
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NGS completed airborne gravity data
collection over mainland Alaska, part of the
Gravity for the Redefinition
of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) project . Collecting gravity data
in Alaska presents many technical, logistical, and weather-related
challenges, and the achievement is the culmination of many years of
surveying...
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NGS took part in
international geodesy policy
discussions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The UN recognizes the
growing demand for precise positioning services, the economic importance of
a global geodetic reference frame (GGRF), and the need to improve global
cooperation within geodesy...
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NGS released its
2018 experimental geoid models, xGEOID18a and xGEOID18b. A geoid is a reference surface. It defines zero elevation, providing the foundation for measuring precise heights...
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NGS updated the
NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool, improving access to the National Spatial Reference System and fostering efficient use of NGS positioning products...
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The NGS chief geodesist presented “Regional Reference Frames for North America: Current Status and Future Plans of Regional Sub-Commission SC1.3c” at the
Commission on Space Research (COSPAR) Reference Frames for Applications in Geosciences (REFAG2018) meeting in Pasadena, CA....
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NGS recently underscored the significance of modernizing the nationwide vertical datum at the world's largest and most comprehensive floodplain management conference, the Association Of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) national conference...
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NGS surveyed a site at the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS) location on Kauai, Hawaii, to measure the geospatial relationship between reference points associated with an International GNSS Service (IGS) tracking station...
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NGS released a study that estimates the economic benefits of
the NOAA-managed Regional Geodetic Advisor Program. The study, conducted
for NGS by ARCBridge Consulting of Herndon, Virginia, estimates 2018 annual
total benefits of the program to be between $18.6 and $38.7 million....
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NGS, the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services
(CO-OPS), and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL)
represented NOAA at the recent Great Lakes Coordinating Committee
semi-annual meeting in Montreal, Canada....
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NGS gave presentations and chaired sessions at the
International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) conference. Sessions included a seminar and case study illustrating forthcoming changes to the U.S. National Spatial Reference System...
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NGS published
NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NGS 74, which describes an entirely new mathematical approach to estimating heights, height differences, and errors in survey measurements. NGS scientists developed the new method to support the determination of accurate orthometric heights, an essential part of modernizing the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS)...
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NGS installed a new robot arm to conduct absolute calibrations for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas. NGS’s
Antenna Calibration Program provides calibrations for specific antenna codes used to process GNSS data in NGS products and services...
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NGS hosted a workshop with commercial equipment and software representatives to gauge their needs and concerns for Modernizing the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) in 2022. The workshop facilitated an exchange of information between NGS technical experts and their industry counterparts...
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NGS participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute 2018 Surveying and Geomatics Conference in Pomona, CA. The event brought together survey professionals to discuss significant issues related to the future of the industry...
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A
Federal Register Notice (FRN) invites public comment on
draft policy and procedure documents for the State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 (SPCS2022) by August 31, 2018. The goal is to ensure that SPCS2022 is technically correct, consistently defined, and meets the needs of NGS customers...
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Members of NGS's Remote Sensing Division received the Commerce Department's Bronze Medal for collecting and disseminating damage assessment imagery in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew...
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The April 2018 issue of the geospatial community’s xyHt Magazine features the article
“Make Your Mark and Improve Your Heights,” which describes NGS’s initiative to crowdsource GPS observations for the nationwide system of precise elevations....
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An NGS geodesist and licensed surveyor represented NGS at the inaugural
Global Surveyors’ Day in Washington, DC. Discussions centered on the essential functions of surveyors in society, both past and present, with a particular emphasis on how surveying can best adapt to a changing world...
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Over the last decade,
Lidar sensor
enhancements increased the use of bathymetric Lidar in a variety of
applications. As a result, the quantity of bathymetric Lidar data increased
substantially. However, fully integrating Lidar data into products meeting
standard accuracy requirements remains a significant challenge...
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The
State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS) is a system of large-scale map
projections created in the 1930s to support surveying, engineering, and
mapping activities throughout the U.S. and its territories. As part of its
modernization of the National Spatial Reference System in 2022, NGS will
adopt a new SPCS...
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NGS and the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) are currently working to update the
International Great Lakes Datum (IGLD). The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River System, one of the world’s largest freshwater resources, is shared by the U.S. and Canada. Management of this shared resource requires a common elevation reference surface, or datum, from which to measure its water levels...
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NGS partnered with staff from the National Estuarine
Research Reserves and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to
install six benchmarks at the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, part of
the
Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative...
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NGS
recently published its latest educational video geared toward surveying,
mapping, and remote sensing professionals. The
short video
,
Geodetic
Control in Land Surveying: Active vs. Passive, is an example of NGS’s
commitment to providing educational resources pertaining to the National
Spatial Reference System, as well as information about other products and
services...
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An NBC News affiliate television station in Denver, CO, aired a report on
the national and local impacts of modernizing the nationwide system of
precise heights, which will be implemented in 2022. Updated elevations may
affect Colorado’s claim to having 54 mountain peaks with an elevation of at
least 14,000 feet, as reported in travel guidebooks and climbing websites.
Televised reports like these help people understand how improved observing
methods and more accurate elevations can impact their everyday
lives...
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NGS released the
NGS Coordinate Conversion and
Transformation Tool (NCAT), combining
several previously separate tools into a single browser-based user
interface. NCAT allows users to easily convert geodetic coordinates among
different coordinate systems, transform coordinates between different
datums in a single step, and get local error estimates for each
transformation...
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NGS and CO-OPS met regarding the
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and its use in
documenting the position of tide gauges. The meeting had particular
significance for engineering applications as they pertain to tidal datums...
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NGS and NOS Communications and Education Division released the latest
NOAA Ocean Podcast, Episode 12, Geodesy: The Invisible Backbone of Navigation. Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field...
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NGS staff were highly visible in recent issues of the positioning and measurement trade magazine
xyHT...
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