Key Milestones

2017: Blueprint Documents (revised in 2021)

Documents describing the design and operation of the modernized NSRS.

2021: GVX file format for RTNs

GVX file format in collaboration with industry experts will allow OPUS to ingest and use data from real time networks.

2022: Deprecation of the US survey foot

Retired to align with international standards and to decrease errors in reference to the modernized NSRS.

2024: GRAV-D 

Airborne data collection program for the U.S. and all territories for use in developing GEOID2022.

2024: LASER

A software suite capable of performing least-squares adjustments within OPUS and other NGS projects critical to NSRS modernization.

2024: SPROCCET

Software capable of projecting geodetic information through time, that will be used in both the modernized version of OPUS and in REC adjustments.

2024: GPS on Benchmarks

Crowdsourced data collection campaign to collect GPS data on survey marks to enable conversions from current vertical datums to the NAPGD2022 heights. These heights will be integrated into the updated NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT).

2025: State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS2022)

Provides coordinates in map projections based on the four newest 2022 terrestrial reference frames of the modernized NSRS.

2025: GEOID2022

A gravimetric geoid model which defines the surface of zero elevation in the modernized NSRS.

2025: Euler Pole Parameters (EPP2022)

A model of the rotation of the tectonic plates to account for horizontal changes over time, used to define the relationship between the four plate-fixed terrestrial reference frames of the modernized NSRS and the ITRF2020.

2025: Multi-Year CORS Solution v3 (MYCS3)

When the Multi-Year CORS Solution 3 (MYCS3) is complete, ITRF2020 coordinate functions will exist for every station in the NOAA CORS Network (NCN).

2025: MPAGES

Software for processing multi-GNSS data.

2025: Updated OPUS-S

A modernized version of the online positioning tool used to access the modernized NSRS to provide coordinates from a single GNSS occupation of a mark.

2025: Updated OPUS-Projects

A modernized version of the online positioning tool used to process a network of GPS occupations, and estimate coordinates within the modernized NSRS.

2025: Updated NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT)

The updated NCAT will support coordinate conversions and transformations into the modernized NSRS reference frames.

2025: Updated Vertical Datum Transformation (VDatum)

The updated VDatum will enable users to vertically transform geospatial data among a variety of tidal, orthometric, and ellipsoidal datums including the modernized NSRS reference frames.

2025: Geometric Reference Epoch Coordinates

Geometric coordinates at over 120,000 survey marks estimated in ITRF2020, as well as in all four frames of the modernized NSRS, at epoch 2020.00.

2025: Orthometric Reference Epoch Coordinates

Orthometric heights at nearly 1,000,000 survey marks estimated in NAPGD2020 at epoch 2020.00.

2026: New Datums presented to FGCS for approval

Many of the milestones that have been accomplished have been presented and recorded in the NGS Webinar Series. The 2025 NGS webinar series will host webinars on upcoming milestones as the products and tools are made available to the public for testing.