WEST virginia legislature
2018 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 580
By Senators Sypolt and Boso
[Introduced February
16, 2018; Referred
to the Committee on Government Organization]
A BILL to amend and reenact §1-1-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to updating language for the West Virginia geodetic datum to match federal coordinate systems.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. LIMITS AND JURISDICTION.
§1-1-5. West Virginia coordinate systems; definition; plane coordinates, limitations of use; conversion factor for meters to feet; official geodetic datum.
(a) The systems The
following acronyms used throughout this section have the following meanings:
“FGDC” means the Federal Geographic Data Committee or its successor;
“NSRS” means the “National Spatial Reference System” or its successors;
“NGS” means the “National Geodetic Survey” or its successors;
“SPCS” means “State Plane Coordinate System” or its successors; and
“WVCS” means the “West Virginia Coordinate System”.
(b) The most recent
system of plane coordinates which
have been established by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey
(formerly the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey) or its successors NGS,
based on the NSRS, and known as the SPCS, for defining and stating the geographic
position or locations of points on the surface of the earth within West
Virginia are to be known and are designated as the West Virginia
Coordinate System. of 1927 and the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1983
(c) The plane coordinate values used to express the position or location of a point in this system consists of two distances, expressed in U. S. Survey feet and decimals of a foot or in meters and decimals of a meter. One of these distances, to be known as the x-coordinate, shall give the position in an east-and-west direction. The other, to be known as the y-coordinate, shall give the position in a north-and-south direction.
(d) The associated factor of one meter equals 39.37/12 U. S. Survey feet shall be used in any conversion necessitated by changing values from meters to U. S. Survey feet.
(b) (e) For the purpose of the use of this system
the state is divided into a North Zone and a South Zone.
The area now included in the following counties is the North Zone: Barbour, Berkeley, Brooke, Doddridge, Grant, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wood.
The area now included in the following counties is the South Zone: Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mason, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Roane, Summers, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, and Wyoming.
(c) (f) As established for use in the North Zone,
the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 or the West Virginia Coordinate
System of 1983 shall be named and in any land description map, survey,
or geospatial product in which it is used it shall be designated the West
Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 North Zone or West Virginia Coordinate
System of 1983 WVCS North Zone.
As established for use in
the South Zone, the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 or the West
Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 shall be named and in any land
description map, survey, or geospatial product in which it is used it
shall be designated the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 South Zone
or West Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 WVCS South Zone.
(d) The plane coordinate
values for a point on the earth's surface, used to express the geographic
position or location of the point in the appropriate zone of this system, shall
consist of two distances, expressed in U.S. Survey feet and decimals of a foot
when using the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 and determined in meters
and decimals when using the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, but which
may be converted to and expressed in feet and decimals of a foot. One of these
distances, to be known as the x-coordinate, shall give the position in an
east-and-west direction. The other, to be known as the y-coordinate, shall give
the position in a north-and-south direction.
These coordinates shall
be made to depend upon and conform to plane rectangular coordinate values for
the monumented points of the North American Horizontal Geodetic Control Network
as published by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey (formerly
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey) or its successors and whose plane
coordinates have been computed on the system defined by this section. Any such
station may be used for establishing a survey connection to either West
Virginia Coordinate System
(g) Information and mathematical data for defining the WVCS, and previous versions thereof, including, but not limited to, the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 and the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, and information and mathematical data for translating or converting coordinates between the WVCS and the previous versions thereof, are those information and data published by the NGS for those purposes.
(e) (h) For purposes of describing the location of
any survey station or land boundary corner in the State of West
Virginia, it shall be is considered a complete, legal, and
satisfactory description of the location to give the position of the survey
station or land boundary corner on the system of plane coordinates
WVCS as defined in this section. Nothing contained in this section
requires a purchaser or mortgagee of real property to rely wholly on a land
description, any part of which depends exclusively upon either West Virginia
Coordinate System.
(i) Any survey that establishes WVCS coordinates to express definite positions, to be used by or relied on by any federal, state, or local government entity, or by the public generally, shall be performed:
(1) By a professional surveyor or engineer licensed to practice surveying in West Virginia, or by a person exempted from licensure under the provisions of this code,
(2) In compliance with all other laws, rules, or regulations governing surveying in the state of West Virginia,
(3) In compliance with the Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards established and published by the FGDC, and in effect at the time the survey is performed.
(j) In addition to any other requirements imposed by law, rule, or regulation, any map, plat, report, description, or geospatial product that claims to report WVCS coordinates to express definite positions, to be used by or relied on by any federal, state, or local government entity, or by the public generally, shall show, or have attached thereto, metadata that meets the requirements established by the FGDC, and in effect at the time the map, plat, report, description, or geospatial product was produced, including a description of the methodology used to establish the WVCS coordinate values reported, that is adequate for users to evaluate the accuracy of the coordinates.
(k) For purposes of describing the location of any land boundary corner in West Virginia, it is considered a complete, legal, and satisfactory description of the location to give the position of the land boundary corner on the WVCS as defined in this section, in addition to other location information as may otherwise be required by law, rule, or regulation.
This section does not require a purchaser or mortgagee of real property to rely wholly on a land description, any part of which depends exclusively upon the West Virginia Coordinate System.
(f) (l) When any tract of land to be defined by a
single description extends from one into the other of the coordinate zones
specified in this section, the position of all points on its boundaries may
refer to either of the two zones. The zone which is being used specifically
shall be named in the description.
(g)(1) For purposes of
more precisely defining the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, the following
definition by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (now National Ocean
Service/National Geodetic Survey) is adopted:
The West Virginia
Coordinate System of 1927 North Zone is a Lambert conformal conic projection of
the Clarke Spheriod of 1866, having standard parallels at north latitudes 39
degrees and 00 minutes and 40 degrees and 15 minutes, along which parallels the
scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the
meridian 79 degrees 30 minutes west of Greenwich and the parallel 38 degrees 30
minutes north latitude. This origin is given the coordinates: x = 2,000,000
feet and y = 0 feet.
The West Virginia
Coordinate System of 1927 South Zone is a Lambert conformal conic projection of
the Clarke Spheriod of 1866, having standard parallels at north latitudes 37
degrees 29 minutes and 38 degrees 53 minutes, along which parallels the scale
shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the
meridian 81 degrees 00 minutes west of Greenwich and the parallel 37 degrees 00
minutes north latitude. This origin is given the coordinates: x = 2,000,000
feet and y = 0 feet.
(2) For purposes of more
precisely defining the West Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, the following
definition by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey is adopted:
The West Virginia
Coordinate System of 1983 North Zone is a Lambert conformal conic projection of
the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes
39 degrees and 00 minutes and 40 degrees and 15 minutes, along which parallels
the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of
the meridian 79 degrees 30 minutes west of Greenwich and the parallel 38
degrees 30 minutes north latitude. This origin is given the coordinates: x =
600,000 meters and y = 0 meters.
The West Virginia
Coordinate System of 1983 South Zone is a Lambert conformal conic projection of
the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes
37 degrees 29 minutes and 38 degrees 53 minutes, along which parallels the
scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the
meridian 81 degrees 00 minutes west of Greenwich and the parallel 37 degrees 00
minutes north latitude. This origin is given the coordinates: x = 600,000
meters and y = 0 meters
(h) (m) No coordinates based on the West Virginia
Coordinate System, purporting to define the position of a point on a land
boundary, may be presented to be recorded in any public records or deed records
unless the point is based on a public or private monumented horizontal
control station established in conformity with the standards of accuracy and
specifications for first order or better geodetic surveying as prepared and
published by the Federal Geodetic Control Committee of the United States
Department of Commerce. Standards and specifications of the Federal Geodetic
Control Committee or its successor in force on the date of the survey apply.
The publishing of the existing control stations, or the acceptance with intent
to publish the newly established control stations, by the National Ocean
Service/National Geodetic Survey is evidence of adherence to the Federal
Geodetic Control Committee specifications. The limitations specified in this
section may be modified by a duly authorized state agency to meet local
conditions a certification is attached thereto and, recorded
simultaneously therewith, certifying the coordinates were established in
compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations governing surveying in West
Virginia by a professional surveyor or engineer licensed to practice surveying
in West Virginia, or by a person exempted from licensure under the provisions
of this code.
(n) A plat and a description of survey purporting to define the position of a point on a land boundary by the use of the West Virginia Coordinate System must show the following:
(1) The accuracy of the coordinates stated at the 95 percent confidence level and in compliance with the Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards established and published by the FGDC in effect at the time of the survey. The coordinate accuracies reported by the surveyor will take into account the network accuracy of existing control, as well as additional systematic effects.
(2) The applicable datum, datum tag, epoch date, in a decimal year format, and the zone, that is the basis of the coordinates. The datum, datum tag, epoch date, and zone shall be as published by the NGS and shall be shown by an appropriate note, or by suffix such as “NAD83 (2011) epoch 2010.00, WVCS, South Zone”.
(3) The signature and seal of the professional surveyor or engineer licensed to practice surveying in West Virginia, or the person exempted from licensure under the provisions of this code, who performed the survey.
(i) (o) The use of the term “West Virginia
Coordinate System of 1927 North or South Zone” or “West Virginia Coordinate
System of 1983 North or South Zone” on any map, report, or survey or other
document shall be limited to coordinates based on the West Virginia Coordinate
System as defined in this section.
(j) A plat and a
description of survey must show the basis of control identified by the
following:
(1) The monument name or
the point identifier on which the survey is based;
(2) The order of
accuracy of the base monument; and
(3) The coordinate
values used to compute the corner positions.
(k) (p) Nothing in this section prevents the recordation
recording in any public record of any deed, map, plat, survey,
description or of any other document or writing of whatever nature which would
otherwise constitute a recordable instrument or document even though the same
is not based upon or done in conformity with the West Virginia Coordinate
System established by this section, nor does nonconformity with the system
invalidate any deed, map, plat, survey, description, or other document which is
otherwise proper.
(l) For purpose of this
section a foot equals a United States Survey foot. The associated factor of one
meter equals 39.37/12 feet shall be used in any conversion necessitated by
changing values from meters to feet.
(q) The official geodetic datums to which geodetic coordinates (including, but not limited to, latitude, longitude, ellipsoid height, orthometric height, or dynamic height) are referenced within the State of West Virginia is as defined for the NSRS.
(r) Any map, plat, report, description, or geospatial product that establishes or reports geodetic positions referenced to the NSRS, to express definite positions, to be used by or relied on by any federal, state, or local government entity, or by the public generally, shall comply with the accuracy and reporting requirements set forth above for the WVCS.
(s) The provisions of this chapter do not prohibit the appropriate use of other coordinate systems, datums, and other geodetic reference networks.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update West Virginia code regarding coordinate systems.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.