European Geodetic Reference Systems
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ETRS89
In 1987, the IAG and CERCO decided to develop a new
European Geodetic Reference Frame based on GPS. This reference should be
a precise continent-wide modern reference near to the WGS84 and usable
for multinational Digital Cartographic Datasets, no longer derived from
multiple national datums across Europe. It should unify national
reference systems for surveying, mapping, GIS and navigation in Europe.
As in the late eighties the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS)
was the most precise global reference system available, EUREF decided to
base its reference on the ITRS which is maintained by the International
Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). However, in the
global ITRS, plate tectonics cause the coordinates of European stations
to slowly change in the order of about 2.5 cm/year. Therefore, in 1990
at it symposium in Firenze, Italy, EUREF designed the European
Terrestrial Reference System 89 (ETRS89) in such a way that it would be
based on the ITRS except that it is tied to the stable part of Europe,
so that the relations between European stations are kept fixed.
Coordinates in ETRS89 are expressed as either three dimensional (X, Y,
Z) Cartesian coordinates or as three dimensional ellipsoidal coordinates
(Φ, λ and H, Ellipsoidal height), based on the GRS80 ellipsoid.
The acceptance of ETRS89 by several communities (civil aviation,
industry, national and regional agencies) as the backbone for
geo-referencing in Europe is a continuous process. EuroControl (European
Agency for Safely of Air navigation) uses ETRS89 since a long time in
its technical specifications and there is a recommendation by the
European Commission to adopt ETRS89 as the geodetic datum for
geo-referenced information and to promote the use of ETRS89 within its
member states.
EUREF and EuroGeographics conducted in 2005 a survey among 41 NMCA in
the European countries. From the 28 answers, 78% of the NMCA already
adopted officially the ETRS89 and 18% of them will adopt it in the near
future. In the majority of the countries the usage of the ETRS89 is not
mandatory in all situations, due to the existence of national reference
systems and the need to have a transition period until the ETRS89 can be
fully adopted.
More details: http://etrs89.ensg.ign.fr
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EVRS
- European Vertical Reference System
EUREF started in 1994 with its activities for development and establishment of European height systems. The work is based on a cooperation between EUREF, National Mapping Agencies (NMA) and Working Group VIII of CERCO (Comité Européen des Responsables de la Cartographie Officielle - now EuroGeographics).
The heights of the European Vertical Reference System (EVRS) are determined by the common adjustment of national leveling networks in the United European Leveling Network (UELN). Simultaneously to the UELN adjustment, definitions and standards of the EVRS were developed. At the EUREF symposium 2000 in Tromsø, a first definition of the EVRS was adopted. In the “Conventions for the Definition and Realization of a European Vertical Reference System (EVRS)”, EUREF passed a revised definition of EVRS. Subsequently the solutions of the UELN were considered as realizations of the EVRS and were named as European Vertical Reference Frame. Up to now, three realizations of EVRS have been released: EVRF2000, EVRF2007 and EVRF2019. The latest realization, EVRF2019, provides uniform European height data for 30 countries.
More details: https://evrs.bkg.bund.de/Subsites/EVRS/EN/Home/home.html
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CRS-EU
- Information system for European Coordinate Reference Systems
The information system CRS_EU containing the description of
pan-European and national coordinate reference systems as well as
their relations with each other. It is based on information of the
National Mapping Agencies of European countries, is edited in
accordance with an ISO standard and verified by test computations.
The
information offered includes:
- description (reference system, coordinate system or map
projection) of the pan-European coordinate reference systems
ETRS89, EVRF2000 and EVRF2007 and the coordinate reference systems
of most European countries
- parameters for the transformation of the national
coordinate reference systems into the pan-European coordinate
reference systems for position and height.
- verification coordinates for check transformation and
online-transformation of single points for position from national
coordinate reference systems to pan-European coordinate reference
systems ETRS89 for test and verification purposes
This way, the requirements imposed by the users of
geoinformation and by other users of geodetic-cartographic
information shall be met in a better way regarding such issues as
geodetic referencing. |
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EUREF
Densification Campaigns
The main purpose of a EUREF CAMPAIGN is the densification of the network of stations with high quality ETRS89 coordinates within a region covering one country or a group of countries, to be used as a frame of the official national geodetic reference system.
Here you can find more information about the Euref campaigns.
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ECGN
- European Combined Geodetic Network
In
order to be able to refer to an integrated European reference
network for spatial reference purposes, the creation of a ECGN is
already under way. This network combines measurements of the
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and other space
techniques with gravity and levelling measurements. Sea level and
other measurements will also be integrated into this network.
The
web pages of the ECGN - European Combined Geodetic Network - serve
the provision of information and the project management. They
contain calls for participation in this project, station data,
guidelines for the measurement, and other details. |
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