Science of geodesy and surveying: support progress report

On March 20, 2023, I wrote a short announcement about a funding opportunity by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to support the science of geodesy.

As mentioned in previous columns, Everett Hinkley wrote about the geodesy crisis in an ION article. Hinkley’s article summarized several action items that could help improve the lack of trained geodesists in the United States. One action was to encourage U.S. government support in the form of grants, professional development of staff, and research collaborations/affiliations. A pilot PhD geodesy educational program with three National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and one NGS employee is in place. He stated that the NGA expects to continue growing this program. Click here for more information on NGA’s academic research program.

NGS’ geospatial modeling grant is another example of this action item. There needs to be more funds added to this task, but it is a start. The program priorities under NGS’ grant program include: research and develop new methodologies for defining and applications for working with the NSRS; develop and evaluate tools, models, and guidelines to access, analyze, and manipulate geodetic data; enhance infrastructure of geodetic control, coastal remote sensing data, survey measurements, and other physical datasets that comprise the NSRS; support education, capacity building, and technology transfer for the future of geodesy; coordinate through partnerships with local, state, and regional users such as state and local governments, universities, and/or the public sector.

The geospatial modeling grant was included in the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The agreement provides $8,000,000 for the program and states that all funding shall be distributed externally. Hopefully, the same amount or more will be in FY 24 appropriations. Additional information about NOAA’s appropriations can be found in the 2023 Omnibus Appropriation Bill under the explanatory statement for Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies. The bill can be found here. To find the language in the bill click here, then search the document for “geospatial.” See the image below for the language in the bill.

For those that are interested in the appropriation process, the image below provides a list of the senators that work on these agencies’ appropriations. If you are interested in learning more about the appropriation process and the geospatial modeling grants, contact your senator. The more congressional representatives know about the geodesy crisis — which includes the lack of trained geodesist as well as surveyors — the sooner they will support funds to help correct the problem. Click here for a list of senators on the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriation Committee.

Advancing geodesy with conferences

Another activity that promotes the advancement of geodesy and surveying are national and international surveying and mapping conferences. Before the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) disbanded, the four-member organization collaborated to convene annual surveying and mapping conferences in the United States. Topics like those presented at a FIG Working Week were presented at these conferences.

Since these ACSM conferences are no longer being held, I encourage users of geospatial data and GNSS technology to attend conferences like FIG Working Week 2023. I have participated in several FIG meetings and learned a lot from presentations as well as holding hallway meetings with experts from the international surveying and mapping community. In the March column, I highlighted that FIG Working Week 2023 is going to be held in Orlando, Florida, on May 28 – June 1. NGS will be presenting a full-day worth of content on NSRS modernization during the conference. I want to highlight some presentations that may be of interest to readers. Register for FIG Working Week 2023 here.

The image below provides a list of NGS presentations with scheduled times. There will be a panel session in the beginning of the day to set the context for the day.

As in most conferences there are several ways participants can register, one day to the entire conference. This is a great opportunity to have discussions with the leadership of the National Geodetic Survey and individuals working on the development of the new, modernized NSRS.

There are a lot of presentations on various topics so, I would encourage readers to look through the entire agenda. FIG’s technical work is led by ten commissions. The August 2021 column provided information about the FIG commissions. See the list of commission below:

Commission 1 – Professional Standards and Practice
Commission 2 – Professional Education
Commission 3 – Spatial Information Management
Commission 4 – Hydrography
Commission 5 – Positioning and Measurement
Commission 6 – Engineering Surveys
Commission 7 – Cadastre and Land Management
Commission 8 – Spatial Planning and Development
Commission 9 – Valuation and the Management of Real Estate
Commission 10 – Construction Economics and Management

The full technical program lists the topics by date and time. I highlighted sessions by commission 5 and 6 that I think would be interested to the surveying and mapping community. See the image below.

Finally, I would like to highlight a NGS product that is now in production mode. That is, OPUS Project 5.1 is now a production product. *NGS did not make an official announcement about this change, but if you access OPUS Project the new version comes up. As described in the March column, OPUS Project 5.1 routine allows the use of RTN vectors and post-processed vectors from vender software.

Clicking the “projects” icon on the OPUS page connects you to the latest version of OPUS Project 5.1. See image below. Please see the March column or NGS’ January webinar to learn more about OPUS Project 5.1.

*Note: As of the writing of this column, March 29, it is still listed on the beta release section of NGS website. If you click on OPUS Project 5.1 in the Beta Release section, it will link to the production version of the routine.