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New York Times Discusses Retirement of the U.S. Survey Foot

Friday August 28, 2020

A feature article published in The New York Times explains the societal benefits of streamlining the U.S. measurement system to include only one standard of measure for the foot. Currently there are two nearly identical definitions of the foot in use: the U.S. survey foot and the international foot. NGS and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology have published a Federal Register notice announcing a decision to retire the U.S. survey foot on December 31, 2022, and use only the international foot nationwide. In the Times article, NGS Director Juliana Blackwell and NGS Geodesist Michael Dennis explain how an exception made in 1959 allowed both definitions of the foot to coexist, which led to confusion and costly issues in construction and engineering projects. The standardization of the foot is part of the NGS campaign to modernize and improve the precision and accuracy of our national geospatial infrastructure.

For more information, contact: Michael Dennis