07-2887. Publication of North American Datum of 1983 State Plane Coordinates in Feet in Minnesota

AGENCY:

National Geodetic Survey (NGS), National Oceanic Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will publish North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) State Plane Coordinate (SPC) grid values in both meters and U.S. Survey Feet (1 ft = 1200/3937 m) in Minnesota, for all well defined geodetic survey control monuments maintained by NGS in the National Spatial References System (NSRS) and computed from various geodetic positioning utilities. The adoption of this standard is implemented in accordance with NGS policy and a request from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors, the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium, the Minnesota Association of County Surveyors and the Minnesota Governor's Council on Geographic Information.

DATES:

Individuals or organizations wishing to submit comments on the Publication of North American Datum of 1983 State Plane Coordinates in feet in Minnesota, should do so by July 12, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments should be sent to the attention of David Doyle, Chief Geodetic Surveyor, Office of the National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic Service (N/NGS2), 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, fax [phone], or via e-mail [e-mail].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information should be directed to David Doyle, Chief Geodetic Surveyor, National Geodetic Survey (N/NGS2), 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; Phone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Abstract

In 1991, NGS adopted a policy that defines the conditions under which NAD 83 State Plane Coordinates (SPCs) would be published in feet in addition to meters. As outlined in that policy, each state or territory must adopt NAD 83 legislation (typically referenced as Codes, Laws or Statutes), which specifically defines a conversion to either U.S. Survey or International Feet as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Standards in Federal Register Notice 59-5442. To date, 48 states have adopted the NAD 83 legislation however, for various reasons, only 33 included a specific definition of the relationship between meters and feet. This lack of uniformity has led to confusion and misuse of SPCs as provided in various NGS products, services and tools, and created errors in mapping, charting and surveying programs in numerous states due to inconsistent coordinate conversions.

Dated: May 30, 2007.

David B. Zilkoski,

Director, Office of National Geodetic Survey, National Ocean Service.