Governing Board

The EUREF TWG was created at the EUREF symposium in Berne, 1992. It was renamed to Governing Board (GB) in 2017 during the Wroclaw Symposium.

The GB is responsible, in general, for the control of EUREF activities and policy, and has the following specific tasks:

• to coodinate and develop the EPN (EUREF Permanent Network);
• to evaluate and classify results of GNSS campaigns presented to the GB for acceptance as EUREF densification or extension;
• to organize and coordinate European-wide geodetic observation campaigns for the improvement of the European reference frame;
• to coordinate the actions for the realisation of a European Height System and the integration of the geo-spatial and vertical components of the European Reference Frame;
• to identify the relevant actions for the continuation and development of EUREF, with respect to innovation and the changing user needs;
• to set up the working groups to run the projects defined by the plenary;
• to prepare the recomendations for the EUREF plenary.

The GB meets at least twice a year, preferably three times a year.

The GB is constituted by members elected by the plenary, ex-officio members and members in charge of specific tasks.

The GB Chair, elected among and by its members, coordinates the GB. The term is 4 years, in a maximum of 2 terms.

The number of members elected by the plenary is defined by the GB Chair and must be in agreement with the tasks committed to the GB. The recommended term is 4 years.

The ex-officio members are the EUREF Chair and Secretary.

Members in charge of a specific task, in a limited number, also compose the GB. The GB Chair appoints these members. The term is established according to the tasks commited.

The GB Chair may invite persons to attend the meetings, to assist in the discussion of specific subjects or to present relevant items to EUREF. These persons have no voting rights.

The WG (Working Group) are established within the GB and appoved in a Plenary's resolution. The GB Chair proposes the leadership of the WG. The leader of a WG must be a member of the GB.

To prepare the annual symposia, the representatives of the respective local organizing committee are invited to the relevant GB meetings. Moreover, guests are invited for special reasons, e.g. reports on EUREF campaigns or important activities related to EUREF.

Working Group on "European Unified Height Reference"

The Working Group on "European Unified Height Reference" was introduced in 2021; it is chaired by Joachim Schwabe.

The goal of this WG is to investigate and introduce an unified European height reference surface. 

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group.

Working Group on "European Dense Velocities"

The Working Group on "European Dense Velocities" was running from 2017 to 2023; it was chaired by Elmar Brockmann.

The goal of this WG is to collect, combine and compare velocity estimates from all over Europe to get a dense velocity field for Europe.

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group.

Web-page of the working group

Working Group on "EPN Densification"

The Working Group on  “EPN Densification” was introduced in 2015; it is chaired by Ambrus Kenyeres.

The goal of this WG is homogenize and strengthen the efforts towards a densification of the EPN with national and sub-regional contributions which have been undertaken by the Reference Frame Coordinator since several years

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group.

Working Group on "Deformation Models"

The Working Group on “Deformation Models” was introduced 2012; it is chaired by Martin Lidberg. The goal of this WG is - relying on the known 3D crustal velocities of GNSS reference stations with sufficient detail and accuracy - to obtain velocity models and to significantly improve the prediction of the time evolution of coordinates and overcome the limitations in the use of the ETRS89. A general understanding of the physics behind such a velocity field (PGR, interplate and intraplate deformation, atmospheric effects, etc.) is also part of this WG.

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group

Web-page of the working group

Multi-GNSS Working Group

The “Multi-GNSS Working Group” was running from 2010 to 2023; it was chaired by Elmar Brockmann. The establishment of this WG should stimulate further institutions to participate and to actively work towards the enhancement of the current EPN infrastructure and EPN products towards Multi-GNSS.

For more information read the Proposal of action items of the Working Group (status Nov. 2012).

Working Group on "EPN Reprocessing"

The Working Group on “EPN Reprocessing” was introduced 2009; it is chaired by Christof Voelksen. During the past years it has been realized that the analysis of the global as well as the regional GNSS networks are affected by different factors like the reference system realization, correction models, analysis strategies and software packages. Therefore products provided by the IGS or the individual analysis centers in the form of precise orbits, ERPs or clocks are dependent on these different factors that were available at the time of generating these products. As a consequence the coordinates estimated by the EPN Local Analysis Centers (LAC) over the past decade are not consistent over the entire period of time. Inconsistencies in the time series of the coordinate appear most frequently whenever models (e.g. antenna PCV) or the reference frame realization were changed.

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group.

Working Group on "Future Development of ETRS89"

The Working Group on “Future Development of ETRS89” was established 2009. The TWG decided to create a Working Group (WG) dedicated to the ETRS89 future development, realisation and its target users. Another important aspect that this WG should deal with is to clarify its adequateness with its parent system, the (ITRS) for all geoscience’s applications, satellite navigation systems and geo-information communities. In effect the IAG is initiating a process for a formal international recognition of the ITRS and EUREF is promoting the adoption of the ETRS89 within INSPIRE directive. Therefore a clear understanding and clarification is needed, emphasizing that the ETRS89 is linked to the ITRS by a pure mathematical formula.

Chaired by Martin Lidberg it was closed 2011 after successfully reaching its goals.

For more information read the Charter of the Working Group.