HB 285-ALASKA COORDINATE SYSTEM OF 2022    3:40:30 PM CO-CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 285, "An Act relating to the Alaska Coordinate System of 2022." 3:40:49 PM REPRESENTATIVE SHAW introduced HB 285, as prime sponsor, by saying that HB 285 would revise the Alaska Statute chapter 38.20, known as the Alaska Coordinate System. 3:41:01 PM JOSHUA WALTON, Staff, Representative Laddie Shaw, Alaska State Legislature, paraphrased from his written talking points, which read: • Thank you Mister Co-Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to present House Bill 285 to the committee. • House Bill 285 revises Alaska Statute chapter 38.20, known as the Alaska Coordinate System, to reflect changes in the federal datum used as a base for the coordinate system and to allow for future updates. • The updated 2022 datum and Alaska Coordinate System will greatly improve accuracy, eliminate known issues, and provide Alaskans an easy system to share positioning data and access to the National Spatial Reference System. • So what is a geodetic datum? o A geodetic datum is a tool used to define the shape and size of the earth, as well as the reference point for the various coordinate systems used in mapping the earth. o Datums are used in geodesy (the study of the Earth's shape), navigation, and surveying by cartographers and satellite navigation systems to translate positions indicated on maps (paper or digital) to their real position on Earth. o Each starts with an ellipsoid (stretched sphere), and then defines latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates. o One or more locations on the Earth's surface are chosen as anchor "base-points". • The Earth, of course, is not a perfect ellipsoid. It has hills, mountains, canyons, valleys, and the like. • Previous datums have not always been able to be [sic] capture these deviations accurately and consistently. o For example the most recent datum incorporated in statute the North American Datum of 1983, adopted into statute as the Alaska Coordinate System of 1983 provides horizontal positions in latitude and longitude, but not elevation or altitude positions. • Fortunately, the forthcoming National Geodetic Survey datum represents a significant improvement in this regard. • It relies completely on reference stations that continuously receive GPS information. • For elevation, it combines the previous ellipsoid height estimations with geoid estimations which are based in variations in the Earth's gravity. • We have a short video going over this which may make things a bit more clear. 3:43:47 PM [A 4-minute, 40-second video from the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), entitled "What's Next for Geodetic Datums?" was shown, and can be found through the internet link: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/corbin/class_description/NGS_ Datums_video_2c/ 3:47:57 PM MR. WALTON continued with his presentation, which read: • To sum up, this new datum will allow for much more precise and standardized positioning, which will be of enormous value for purposes of accurate navigation and surveying. • By incorporating this forthcoming datum into our statutes, House Bill 285 helps ensure that the State of Alaska is prepared to make full use of the latest and greatest technical standards available. • Once this new datum is adopted, the National Geodetic Survey will no longer support the old systems. Alaska will not be able to take advantage of improvements in geodetic positioning, in particular the new gravity- based elevation which will dramatically improve the ability to measure elevations in Alaska. • Forty-eight states have adopted state plane coordinate systems in their statutes; all will need to be updated. • House Bill 285 does that for Alaska. • Scientists, surveyors, design professionals, GIS specialists, and the geospatial community will all benefit from an improved coordinate system that minimizes linear distortions and is designed to include population centers and resource development. • Even though the change is over a year away, the time to prepare is now. While tools will be available to facilitate the transformation of specific position information, it can take years to change products services or databases. Passage of HB 285 is critical to Alaska maintaining accuracy to survey and mapping in the near future. • I should note if I haven't made it painfully obvious already that this is not a particular area of expertise for me. • Fortunately, I don't have to go it alone today; on the line we have some folks from the Department of Natural Resources who are far more [knowledgeable] than I am, specifically: o Gwen Gervelis - Chief Surveyor, State Geodetic Coordinator o Kris Hess Deputy Director, Mining, Land and Water • With that, I'm happy to go through the brief sectional analysis, if that's the will of the committee. • That's all I have. Thank you for the opportunity to present this legislation, and I remain available for questions. 3:51:01 PM CO-CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS asked why such specificity regarding geodetic datums is written into law. 3:51:41 PM MARTY PARSONS, Director, Division of Mining Land and Water, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), expressed that he did not know why, but his guess is that working with a single datum offers consistency among all the different surveying platforms and ensures information is consistent throughout the various types of survey and scientific operations. REPRESENTATIVE SHAW added that spatial perspective is important relative to establishing the geodesic survey, which, in turn, is important for hiking. He said that if a person is hiking 1,000 vertical feet, he/she would want to be sure the measurement is exact. CO-CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS asked for the likelihood that the coordinate system would change in a decade or two based on improved technology, and the state would again change its statute. MR. PARSONS replied that changes in the coordinate system are out of the state's control; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NOAA NGS control the coordinate system; the last correction was in 1983 and before that in 1927. He maintained that once the datums are put in place, they are there for a significant period. REPRESENTATIVE SHAW added that since 1983, so much has changed due to advanced technology and satellite-based systems; it is hard to imagine improvements happening very soon. REPRESENTATIVE VANCE asked how the change in statute would affect activity in DNR and other systems. MR. WALTON responded that it would enable DNR and all state agencies that do surveying to operate with a much more precise positioning system. Locations can be identified more clearly and with more accuracy and less dispute over boundary lines. MR. PARSONS explained that it is important to keep in mind that as people increase their ability to locate themselves precisely on the face of the earth and do so quickly, it significantly cuts down time and expense in the surveying process, not only for surveyors but for lay people. He added that it enables the state to better monitor the movement of dams and other structures due to tectonics. 3:57:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked whether Alaska has enough reference stations to produce satisfactory results in remote areas of state. MR. PARSONS answered that with the updated Alaska Coordinate System, the state would have enough Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) allowing Alaska to do real-time differential adjustment. Under the current system, Alaska would need a significant number of additional stations. REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked how the current system differs from the system proposed under HB 285 in terms of having enough stations. MR. PARSONS explained that the new system would work with the number of stations Alaska has; under the current system, Alaska would need to increase the number of CORS to perform real-time adjustment. 3:59:51 PM GWEN GERVELIS, Surveys Manager, Division of Mining Land and Water, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), relayed that the current CORS in the state are adequate for accessing the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) under the [2022] datum and coordinate system update which is proposed under HB 285; the CORS were used to measure the state for the system. REPRESENTATIVE STORY referred to testimony that 48 states have made these changes and expressed her understanding that Alaska is "behind the curve" in adopting the new coordinates. She mentioned the zero-fiscal note (FN). She asked how many other changes would be needed in response to changing the geographical coordinate system and the length of time to make the change. MR. WALTON responded that there are 48 states, including Alaska, that have adopted the State Plane Coordinate System (SOCS) in statute. Any state with those statutes, would need to update them ahead of the 2022 datum coming online, because the NGS will support the new specifications and stop supporting the old ones. He opined that there is a zero FN because the coordinate system is created and provided by the federal government; therefore, the state would only need the statutory change to allow it to use the new standard, but would not need additional equipment. MR. PARSONS concurred with Mr. Walton's explanation and added that the coordinate change represents a mathematical conversion. If Alaska does not update its coordinate system to the 2022 references, it would have to do the conversions itself, which introduces error. Updating to the new system would eliminate the error, allow Alaska to take the readings directly from the equipment, and put the readings directly into the different surveying and scientific programs that use the information. 4:04:49 PM REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked whether surveyors and private surveying companies would need to purchase additional equipment or programs to utilize the data. MS. GERVELIS answered, "No, they will not." She added that the current Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) equipment that they use will access the [updated] system; NOAA NGS will create software to make the transition smooth. CO-CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS indicated that HB 285 would be held over.