California Spatial Reference Center
Coordinating Council Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes
October 22, 2004
Opening and Chairman’s Report – Greg Helmer
The meeting began at 10:00 am at Scripps in La Jolla. Attendees list is included. Greg introduced special guests Bob Parker, IGPP Chairman. He also introduced Roy Dokka with the Louisiana Spatial Reference Center and Spencer Reeder with the Washington Spatial Reference Center.
Greg also announced that after some discussion at the Executive Committee the existing by-laws would remain unchanged.
Director’s Report – Yehuda Bock
Yehuda gave the semi-annual report for the CSRC. He shared the FY’05’ Work Plan along with the eight specific project areas. The CSRC has received $2.9 million since it’s inception in 1999. Yehuda gave some Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) highlights relative to the CSRC Master Plan Network. He shared information on GPS Data Products for Solid Earth Sciences from PBO including a ‘GPS Explorer’ for viewing GPS data, geodetic monuments, velocities and strains.
Yehuda discussed the two real-time networks being implemented in Orange County (12 sites) and San Diego County (22 sites).
Yehuda summarized his recent presentation at the UC Riverside Extension Program seminar. It covered various features available on the web site, like SECTOR and SCOUT.
Yehuda discussed the questionnaire sent out for the FY’06’ Work Plan and encouraged everyone to complete the form as soon as possible.
Michael Scharber presented a new Pocket GPS Manager running on a PDA that allows one to record GPS meta-data with no traditional paper log sheets.
Jeff Genrich presented a preliminary report showing displacement information for the Parkfield Earthquake that took place on September 28, 2004. After this presentation the Committee broke for lunch.
PBO Update – Mike Jackson, UNAVCO
Mike gave an update on the progress of installing CGPS stations by PBO. The project is ahead of schedule in all aspects except permits accepted. A total of 56 stations have been installed to date. Several special requests have been received by PBO during the first year of the project including:
· Augustine Volcano Alaska (3 sites)
· San Simeon Earthquake (5 sites)
· Mt. St. Helens (8 sites)
· Parkfield Earthquake (5 sites)
Data for these sites can be found at ftp://data-out.unavco.org/pub/PBO-rinex
Greg Anderson next gave a presentation on PBO Data Management. He stated 50 of the 61 constructed sites are collecting data in a normal fashion. He described existing and future data product plans. He shared how PBO is reviewing high-rate and real-time GPS data applications with their PBO Real-Time Working Group. He also discussed PBO’s data management timeline, data management plan and their GPS Analysis Center.
PBO’s primary websites are at:
http://pbo.unavco.org
www.earthscope.org
Height Modernization Projects
Don D’Onofrio gave a report on a project in the San Joaquin Valley contracted to Condor Earth Technologies. The San Joaquin Valley densification project consists of 105 in-ground stations arranged in a corridor-type layout. The project follows major highways and was initiated due to a poor vertical benchmark network throughout the San Joaquin valley. All measurements have been completed for the project.
Don also mentioned the Center of Population ceremony that occurred in Buttonwillow on October 16th that was partially sponsored by the CSRC. A permanent monument was established at the center of population for California.
Dick Davis of Caltrans gave a report on the northern California densification project. The project involves 800 stations, 500 of which are in the CSRC Master Plan. All measurements were performed by Caltrans personnel. It took 15 days for Caltrans to measure the 122 primary base stations.
Vern Klassen of Caltrans reported on an Imperial County Survey involving 8 receivers over 7 days and 21 new stations. The survey involved cadastral corners and disclosed up to 0.5 meters of movement across the San Andreas fault from the 1991.35 epoch to the 2004.0 epoch.
Cecilia Whitaker reported on CGPS Leveling Surveys in southern California to create NAVD88 elevations on existing CGPS sites. The FGCS specifications were modified with consolations between CSRC and NGS. Over half of the 20 level runs checked within specification tolerances with the first two NGS benchmarks that were utilized.
California Orthometric Height Legislation – Dick Davis
Dick stated that the committee working on revising the California Public Resources Code relative to vertical datums had met 13 times in the last two years. The committee proposed three new chapters covering geodetic standards, ellipsoid heights and NAVD88. Dick gave an invitation for anyone interested in joining this committee to contact him.
User Survey – Bill Young
After the UCR Extension seminar, Bill decided the CSRC needed to extend the time for individuals to respond to the existing Work Plan Survey for a few weeks. This survey is available on the CSRC website.
Treasurer’s Report – John Canas
John handed out his Treasurer’s report to those in attendance. A copy will be on the website as well.
Washington Spatial Reference Center – Spencer Reeder
Spencer was asked to give an update on the process of the SRCW in Washington. He stated the SRCW has been created as a non-profit organization. The Center has held three forums with the NGS and is currently funded by NOAA. They have been in existence for two years, have an all-volunteer staff at this time, and have an executive board much like the CSRC. Their first project consisted of a historical leveling analysis of the state. Installing new CGPS and leveling to those stations are now in progress. The group has real-time interests and has need for precise leveling training.
Louisiana Spatial Reference Center – Roy Dokko
Roy explained that the first task of Louisiana was to ascertain the condition of the benchmarks and elevations throughout the state. The Center made the case for height modernization via a 2800 point velocity model test case. The coastline of Louisiana is sinking approximately ½” per year and is not more than 3 feet above sea level for one third of its distance. The Center is currently fixing its reference frame and planning ways to maintain it. It is also installing 75 additional CGPS stations to assist in this maintenance.
Public Outreach
Renee Shields explained that the NGS is holding monthly phone conference calls with the CSRC to provide up to date communication between both groups.
Mark Turner, Caltrans, noted the geodetic control is an important part of the transportation infrastructure. He noted that several Districts are using a window of opportunity due to a slowdown in construction to improve their geodetic control for future projects. An Interagency Agreement has been submitted to UCSD/SIO to facilitate the state permitting process for siting CGPS in Caltrans facilities. Research projects such as Airborne GPS and LiDAR are also being pursued by Caltrans. Caltrans has decided to transition back to the English system from the metric system over the next few years.
CGPS Symposium – Scheduled for February 4, 2005 in Orange County.
ACSM/NALS/CLSA March 2005, Las Vegas, Nevada – The CSRC will have a booth at this upcoming conference.
The CSRC is asking for volunteers on the Public Outreach Committee.
Next CSRC Meeting
The next meeting will be Friday, May 20th in Sacramento or San Francisco. The meeting adjourned at 3:40 pm.
Miscellaneous
Don thought it would be interesting to see how other states are dealing with CSRC type issues.
Bill would like a sub-committee formed to focus on future fundraising for CSRC.
PBO and UNAVCO are not helping BARD financially even though BARD was asked to alter their collection rate to 15 seconds for PBO. BARD is asking the CSRC to support their network financially in whatever amount is possible.
CGSIC met with Caltrans in July. Mark Turner has invited them back in September to show them the advantages of GPS.
Yehuda needs comments on his request for who worked on FY03/04 fundraising activities for the CSRC.
Dick Davis thinks the Fresno office for Caltrans should get an appreciation letter for their support of the Northern California Network. Greg will work on this.
Yehuda believes it is a good time to re-propose the Master’s Program in ‘Geodesy and Geospatial Referencing’ to Scripps because of their current re-organization process. Next month would be most effective time to present. A possible-student count would be very valuable information for any proposal. Yehuda will circulate the preliminary curriculum from 2 years ago to help with planning a new proposal.
Greg will announce to CC members the results of recent CSRC elections at the Coordinating Council Meeting on October 13th.