[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 17149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08141]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Policy and Procedures Documents for the State Plane Coordinate 
System of 2022

AGENCY: National Geodetic Survey (NGS), National Ocean Service (NOS), 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed change to the State Plane Coordinate System; 
request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will establish the State 
Plane Coordinate System of 2022 (SPCS2022) as part of the transition to 
the 2022 Terrestrial Reference Frames (TRFs). SPCS2022 is the successor 
to previous versions referenced to the North American Datums of 1983 
and 1927. Like its predecessors, SPCS2022 will be a system of conformal 
map projections for the entire National Spatial Reference System 
(NSRS). It will provide surveyors, engineers, and other geospatial 
professionals with a practical means for accessing and using the NSRS. 
NGS has developed draft policy and procedures that propose defining 
characteristics and requirements for SPCS2022. These documents also 
provide mechanisms for user input on initial design of SPCS2022 and 
subsequent changes. The aim is for SPCS2022 to meet the needs of NGS 
customers for the future NSRS. To achieve that goal, NGS is inviting 
written comments on the draft SPCS2022 policy.
    In addition, NGS seeks feedback on purposed ``special purpose'' 
zones.

DATES: Comments will be accepted until Friday, August 31, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted in writing to NGS Feedback, 
NOAA/NOS/National Geodetic Survey, 1315 East-West Hwy, Rm. 9340 N/NGS1, 
Silver Spring, MD 20910; or via Email to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Dennis, SPCS2022 Project 
Manager, NOAA/NOS/National Geodetic Survey, 1315 East-West Hwy, Rm. 
9340 N/NGS1, Silver Spring, MD 20910; or Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SPCS was originally established in the 
1930s. Since that time it has evolved, and there has been substantial 
variability in how it was defined, maintained, and used. The history 
and current status of SPCS is discussed in NOAA Special Publication NOS 
NGS 13 (https://geodesy.noaa.gov/library/pdfs/NOAA_SP_NOS_NGS_0013_v01_2018-03-06.pdf). This publication may prove a 
useful companion in reviewing the draft SPCS2022 policy and procedures 
by providing context and insight into the development of SPCS and the 
existing NGS policies pertaining to it. Further information is 
available on the NGS State Plane Coordinate System web page: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/SPCS/index.shtml.
    Pursuant to the authority provided in the Coast and Geodetic Survey 
Act, 33 U.S.C. 883a et seq., the Director of NOAA's National Geodetic 
Survey invites interested parties to submit comments to assist NGS in 
developing a new State Plane Coordinate System for the future. Comments 
may address any aspect of the draft SPCS2022 policy and procedures. The 
draft SPCS2022 policy is available at: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/INFO/Policy/files/DRAFT_SPCS2022_Policy.pdf. The associated draft procedures 
are available at: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/INFO/Policy/files/DRAFT_SPCS2022_Procedures.pdf. Specifically, the Director seeks 
comments regarding:
    1. Usage of current SPCS in your organization, how your 
organization expects to use SPCS2022, and whether it will facilitate 
migration to the 2022 TRFs.
    2. Whether the proposed default SPCS2022 definitions will impose a 
hardship or be beneficial to your organization.
    3. Whether there is insufficient or excessive flexibility in the 
characteristics of SPCS2022 that can be established through user input.
    4. Whether the deadlines are acceptable and realistic for making 
requests or proposing characteristics for SPCS2022.
    5. Whether including ``special purpose'' zones as part of SPCS2022 
would be beneficial, problematic, or irrelevant to your organization.
    NGS notes that the draft SPCS2022 policy and procedures do not 
currently include a ``special purpose'' zone option, in part, because 
it would create areas where zones partially overlap other zones. 
Special purpose zones would, however, provide contiguous coverage for 
regions that are not adequately covered by SPCS2022, primarily those 
that fall within two or more SPCS2022 zones. These zones would be for 
major urbanized areas, large American Indian reservations, or federal 
applications covering large geographic areas. Examples for each 
category are:
     Major urbanized areas: New York City, Chicago, Los 
Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Denver, Portland, and many 
others cross zone (and often state) boundaries.
     Large American Indian reservations: The Navajo Nation is 
about the same area as West Virginia and falls within five existing 
SPCS zones (and three states).
     Regional federal applications: The Atlantic coast from the 
Florida-Georgia border to the Maine-Canada border is a region that 
spans 14 existing SPCS zones but could be covered by a single zone.
    Although these types of zones were included as a possibility in the 
1977 policy, none were created as part of the SPCS.\1\ NGS seeks to 
determine whether it is appropriate to include special purpose zones as 
part of SPCS2022, or support special purpose zones in some other 
manner, if at all.
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    \1\ These zones were considered in 1977 for ``[u]rbanization 
that requires either different parameters for existing zones or 
additional zones such that a metropolitan area would be located in a 
single zone,'' as documented in the ``Policy on Publication of Plane 
Coordinates,'' located in Vol. 42, No. 57, pages 15943-15944 of the 
Federal Register, dated Thursday, March 24, 1977 (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1977-03-24/pdf/FR-1977-03-24.pdf).

    Dated: March 23, 2018.
Juliana P. Blackwell,
Director, Office of National Geodetic Survey, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-08141 Filed 4-17-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P