Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

HB 2391

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Background:

The Department of Natural Resources is required to provide a reference system to identify and preserve survey points. These survey points are widely used in land surveying, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and map production. This reference system is known as the Washington Coordinate System.

In 1945, Washington adopted, as part of the Washington Coordinate System, a federal reference system supported and maintained by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS). This system was known as the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27). A new reference system based on the North American Datum of 1983, known as NAD83, was developed to reflect improved technology and accuracy. Since 1990, persons using the Washington Coordinate System have been required to use NAD83.

Using NAD83, the Washington Coordinate System provides a common language for identifying location coordinates that are expressed in terms of an "x" value (an east-west direction) and a "y" value (a north-south direction). The Washington Coordinate System requires that reference points be expressed in meters. These values expressed in meters, or converted to feet, can then be entered into a database and can be shared with anyone who chooses to use the Washington Coordinate System.

NGS is scheduled to provide a new, more accurate coordinate system beginning in 2022. At that time, NAD83 will no longer be supported.

Summary of Bill:

"NSRS" means the National Spatial Reference System or its successor.

"WPCS" means the Washington Plane Coordinate System, the system of plane coordinates as determined by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS).

"Metadata" means, for purposes of the Washington Plane Coordinate System, the geodetic reference system utilized, the applicable epoch, the date of observation, and other metadata as appropriate.

The Washington Plane Coordinate System shall consist of the most recent system of plane coordinates established by the NGS for defining and stating the positions or locations of points on the surface of the earth within the state of Washington.

A statewide Washington Lambert zone is created within the Washington Plane Coordinate System, in addition to the existing north zone and south zone.

The official geodetic datums to which the geodetic coordinates are referenced within the state of Washington shall be as defined for the NSRS.

The statewide Washington Lambert zone within the Washington Plane Coordinate System is a Lambert conformal conic projection, having standards parallels at north latitudes 146° 07' and 48° 25', along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 120° 50' west of Greenwich and the parallel 45° 15' north latitude. This origin is given the coordinates: E = 400,000 meters and N = 1,000,000 meters.