Wisconsin Geospatial News

NIST and NGS delay final determination on deprecation of US Survey Foot

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) have announced a 90-day extension on the final determination of the decision to deprecate the US Survey Foot. The additional time is necessary to address public comments on the deprecation.

A Federal Register notice on 10/17/2019 announced the intent to deprecate the Survey Foot. The notice stated that NIST and NGS would co-issue a Federal Register notice by June 30, 2020, announcing adoption of the “foot” equal to 0.3048 meter (exactly) as the “official definition for all applications in the U.S. after December 31, 2022.”

However, a Federal Register notice published on 07/10/2020 announced “a 90-day extension of the review and analysis period to address public comments. The final determination will be published by September 28, 2020.” Public comments for the 10/17/2019 notice can be found here.

NGS has also announced a delay in the implementation of the modernized National Spatial Reference System originally slated for roll-out in 2022.