Page 12 - NYS_ESS_03-2022

[ short takes ]

Putting the Best “Foot” Forward: Ending the Era of Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
the U.S. Survey Foot (1959 to 2022) Administration (NOAA), have taken collaborative action to
Reprinted from https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot provide national uniformity in the measurement of length.
This notice announces the final decision to deprecate use of
Since 1893, the legal definition of the foot in the United
States has been based on the meter. The definition adopted at the “U.S. survey foot” on December 31, 2022. Beginning
that time was the one specified by Congress in 1866, as 1 foot on January 1, 2023, the U.S. survey foot should not be used
= 1200/3937 meter exactly (or 1 foot = 0.304 800 6 meter and will be superseded by the “international foot” definition
approximately). In 1959, the relationship of the foot to the (i.e., 1 foot = 0.3048 meter exactly) in all applications. The
meter was officially refined as 1 foot = 0.304 8 meter exactly. international foot is currently used throughout the U.S. for
This change was made to support United States industry and a large majority of applications and is typically referred to as
international trade. It resolved a long-standing discrepancy simply the “foot.” Over time this terminology will become
with the definition used by different organizations within the more prevalent in land surveying and mapping communities.
United States and in other countries. Either the term “foot” or “international foot” may be used,
as required for clarity in technical applications. This notice
The 1959 redefinition of the foot was legally binding and describes public comments received, along with the plan,
intended for the entire United States. But a single exception resources, training, and other activities provided by NIST
temporarily allowed continued use of the previous definition and NOAA to assist those affected by this transition.
of the foot, exclusively for geodetic surveying. To distinguish
between these two versions of the foot, the new one was named Further details may be found by visiting the Federal Register
the “international foot” and the old one the “U.S. survey online: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/10/05/
foot.” It was furthermore mandated that the U.S. survey foot 2020-21902/deprecation-of-the-united-states-us-survey-foot
be replaced by the international foot upon readjustment of Carlson 2022 Select Suite for Land Development Helps
the geodetic control networks of the United States. Although Increase Productivity and Efficiency With New Features
such a readjustment was completed in 1986, use of the U.S.
survey foot persisted. This situation has led to confusion and
errors that continue to this day, and it is at odds with the
intent of uniform standards.

To resolve problems due to simultaneous use of two nearly
identical versions of the foot, collaborative action is being
taken by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), National
Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). With the goal of providing national
uniformity in the measurement of length, the U.S. survey
foot will be phased out as part of the modernization of the Carlson’s latest releases of Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS,
National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). From this point CADnet, Construction and Point Cloud provide time-saving
forward, the international foot will be simply called the foot. features for common tasks.
A Federal Register Notice (FRN) has been issued to solicit In Carlson Civil and Hydrology 2022, updates to the Utility
public comment to ensure that this change is made in an Network command now provides the ability to run collision
orderly fashion with minimal disruption. checks, check surface model clearances, and label clearances,

US Survey Foot will be Depreciated December 31, 2022 Per providing an automated workflow for identifying and labeling
US Federal Register possible interference points.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology ParkingNET’s features have been expanded to include
(NIST) and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), National
designing along a polyline or centerline alignment file with

10 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 58 • NO 2 / 2022 • MARCH/APRIL