Hello IaRTN Users,
Sorry for the long message, but please read for the changes coming in 2026.
Some of you may have already heard, there will be a new datum soon for the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). The North American Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2022 (NATRF2022) is scheduled to be voted on by the Federal Geodetic Data Committee in February 2026. If approved, NATRF2022 will be the official reference frame for the continental United States which includes Iowa. NATRF2022 will replace the current datum North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). After a certain period of time, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will depreciate NAD83.
This does not mean NAD83 will disappear, just that NGS software will by default will provide data in NATRF2022 not NAD83. There should be tools provided by NGS to compute coordinates back to a certain epoch in NAD83 or NATRF2022. The Iowa DOT does not have any control or input on how this will work. Please contact the NGS Regional Advisor with any questions on their tools and NATRF2022.
The IaRTN will always be aligned to the current NSRS therefore we will have an adjustment to NATRF2022 sometime in mid to late 2026. Not to worry, separate mount points will be provided for NATRF2022 and NAD83 for the users in Iowa to get their projects moved over to NATRF2022. I encourage you to transition to NATRF2022 as soon as possible when it is available. I am not sure when we will stop providing corrections in NAD83.
Most of the questions you will have will need to be answered by your software vendors. There are numerous versions of software out there and it would be impossible for me to know how those software engineers plan to handle this change. I am here for any questions you may have, but your best bet is to contact your software support team.
In the meantime, if you have not already been incorporating this into your workflow, I would review the information on the NGS’ homepage under ‘New Datums.’ There are three Blueprints available to learn what is coming. There are examples of the metadata you need to record if you are not already doing so.
NGS also provides information on the new State Plane Coordinates of 2022 (SPC2022) and the North American-Pacific Geopotential Datum of 2022 (NAPGD2022) which will replace the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88). As always, setting proper geodetic control surrounding your project should put you back on the project coordinate system you started with.
As a reminder, the IaRTN always has always and will continue to provide corrections related to the official NSRS reference ellipsoid. Any mapping coordinates like State Plane or Low Distortion Projection, are computed in your software. If your drone is using the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) you’ll need to visit with your software support on how they are going to handle the upcoming changes.
There is not set date for when NGS officially releases the new datum, so there is nothing to get excited about right now. The change will not happen overnight. I plan to give us plenty of time to move to the new datum. Feel free to give me a call if you have any questions your software vendor cannot answer.
Thank you,
Dan Messerich, PLS
IaRTN Administrator
712-790-8513 mobile
Danel.Messerich@iowadot.us