Study Group on alternatives to ETRS89
The European Terrestrial Reference System 89 (ETRS89) was adopted in 1990 in Firenze, Italy, following the EUREF Resolution 1. 12 realizations have been published so far, the most recent being ETRF2020. Since then, European countries have aligned their national reference frame with respect to an ETRS89 realization.
Most of them have chosen ETRF2000 but at various epochs. Only a few countries have adopted the recent unbiased updates. On 15th October 2024, the EUREF Governing Board decided to form a Study Group (SG) to investigate if ETRS89 is still in line with user needs and to propose an alternative definition of the system if it is relevant. The conclusions of the SG are expected by the end of 2025.
Terms of reference of the study group
Report of activities :
- Status of the study group work presented at EUREF 2024 symposium.
- Short activity summary provided in EUREF 2025 newsletter page 2.
- Status of the study group work presented at REFAG 2026 symposium (Presentation to come).
Ongoing tasks :
- Design of a questionnaire to capture user needs and terrestrial reference system specifications. A task force, composed of some study group members, was established in January 2026 to derive the survey questions.
- Identify and list ETRS89 alternatives, including their advantages and disadvantages.
- Collect national coordinates to calculate the differences between existing and proposed coordinate systems.
Relevant link: