What will be the future of the CSRS in Canada after the U.S. replaces NAD 83 with NATRF2022

True North | Spring 2020

With the diversity of geospatial data collection sensors and methodologies, geomatics professionals need to have a deep understanding of the existing spatial reference frames under their jurisdictions. Along with this understanding, geomatics professionals are required to have appropriate software and tools to handle these coordinate systems correctly and efficiently.

The governance of reference frames in Canada resides at both federal and provincial (and territorial) level. The definition of the reference frame resides at the federal level with the Canadian Geodetic Survey (CGS). However, the provincial government is responsible for the adoption of the reference frame. This governance model has resulted in a situation where provinces are now using different epochs of NAD83 (CSRS). See Figure 1 for the adopted epochs in the Canadian provinces.

Figure 1: NAD83(CSRS) versions adopted in Canada as of September 2019. Year indicates the reference epoch associated with the coordinates (figure from Erickson et al. 2019)

Adding to this complexity is the fact that the United States is moving to a new and modernized reference frame in 2022. The U.S., as part of its reference system modernization, will replace its NAD83 with a new North American Terrestrial Reference Frame, NATRF2022. This change will create 1.3 to 1.5 metre horizontal coordinate difference at the Canada-US border. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Approximate horizontal (left) and vertical (right) coordinate differences between NAD83 and NATRF2022. Based on original figures from National Geodetic Survey (2019b) (figure from Erickson et al. 2019)

Considering the reasons that the U.S. is moving to NATRF2022, there is a compelling case to be made for Canada to follow the same path and adopt NATRF2022. However, there will be major challenges such as cost and efforts for geospatial data users across the country. A different angle to tackle this situation is to create transformations between Canadian and U.S. reference frames. From a technical perspective, this approach can be easily handled, however, the management and end-user awareness are the main challenges in this approach.

A recent publication by Erickson et al. 2019 has summarized the reasons that the U.S. is moving to NATRF2022 and explained Canada’s response to this change.

Babak Amjadiparvar, P.Eng., Ph.D.
Geospatial Team Lead
Cansel