Safe Navigation Accomplishments

Ground Control Surveys in Partnership with Federal and Local Government Agencies

The NOAA Pacific Services Center's Pacific region geodetic advisor assisted with the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in a variety of applications:

• Coral reef mapping with the government of Palau.
• Determining the orthometric height of monitoring wells on Maui with the U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division.
• Determining forestry boundaries with the State of Hawai`i Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

Horizontal and Vertical Geodetic Control Project for the CNMI

From May through July 2003, fieldwork was undertaken to establish global reference positions with orthometric heights for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and to do so with the greatest precision and accuracy available today. This information will support the diversity of geographic information system (GIS), engineering, charting, and mapping requirements for the planning efforts of the local and federal governments.

Improved Three-Dimensional Positioning Capabilities in Guam and the CNMI

The Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) system enables positioning accuracies that approach a few centimeters relative to the National Spatial Reference System, both horizontally and vertically. The National Geodetic Survey and the NOAA Pacific Services Center partnered with local government agencies to install a new CORS in Guam and to move and reinstall a CORS in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Nautical Charts and Coast Pilot Updates

Accurate information about water depth, tides, and dangers to navigation is essential to ensure the safe transport of goods and services. The NOAA Pacific Services Center partnered with the NOAA Office of Coast Survey and port and coastal managers to initiate updates to the nautical charts and the United States Coast Pilot in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and American Samoa in 2003. Nautical charts for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands continued to be updated in 2003.

Technical Assistance in Geospatial Positioning

The NOAA Pacific Services Center's Pacific region geodetic advisor worked to address the needs of federal and local governments and the private sector for improved accuracy of geospatial positioning to support geographic information system, engineering, geophysical, charting, and mapping applications in Hawai`i and the Pacific region.

Training and Outreach in Geodetic Control

The NOAA Pacific Services Center's (PSC) Pacific region geodetic advisor presented several basic workshops in partnership with the Hawai`i Association of Land Surveyors (HALS) on the Global Positioning System (GPS), GPS control, and datum transformations. PSC's geodetic advisor gave the keynote address at the HALS annual conference on the National Geodetic Survey's (NGS) role in the Pacific. He also presented two workshops at the Western Pacific Regional GPS, GIS, Cadastral Survey Conference and Technical Programs in Palau , the first on the role of NGS in the Pacific and the second on GPS processing and coordinate transformations.