Canadian Geodetic Survey Releases New Version of NAD83

By T_mackinnon @tedmackinnon

NAD83(CSRS) v7

Geodetic reference systems stem from the need to provide a consistent and integrated reference surface for data analysis. Applications including surveying, mapping, navigation, remote sensing and mineral exploration all require accurate geodetic reference systems to spatially locate places or similar objects.

At the national level, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) maintains the Canadian Spatial Reference System (CSRS), through the use of the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83CSRS), which is the adopted standard here in Canada.

The Canadian Geodetic Survey (CGS), a branch of NRCan recently announced they are releasing a new version of NAD83(CSRS) (version 7.0) which will:

  • be compatible with all previous versions of NAD83(CSRS);
  • use the same 2010.0 coordinate reference epoch as NAD83(CSRS) v6;
  • provides a more accurate realization of NAD83(CSRS) for both coordinates and velocities of CACS and CBN stations;
  • includes a new velocity grid for crustal motion in 3D which is implemented in CSRS-PPP and TRX.

The coordinate differences with NAD83(CSRS) v6 at epoch 2010.0 are generally less than 1cm while the velocity differences are of the order of 0.5-1 mm/yr. The transformation has been implemented in all NRCan online geospatial tools including CSRS-PPP, TRX, and GPS-H.

For more details see the NRCAN(CSRS) v7 documentation page ...