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back to article Australian maps and GPS will align by 2020

Geo-boffins are getting ready to nudge Australia to the north, so its national map data agrees with the new world of GPS. The country's maps are currently based on a standard called the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994 (GAD94), which is more than 20 years old and ties map references to locations fixed on the Australian …

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  1. Ted's Toy

    The earth moved

    Does this mean that all my boundary pegs are in the wrong place or that all the town and country local maps used by the councils are incorrect?

    Who is going to cover the cost of re-pegging boundaries and or re-drawing all the maps, as if we have moved as a country the all international boundaries have also moved. This will keep lots of pen pushers in government dept. busy for the next 50 years.

    0 0 Reply
    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon

      Re: The earth moved

      No need to do anything. The earth moved for all of you, so you should all be happy.

      0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why does this matter for a map?

    Can't they use a fixed point on the ground as reference to correct the error? I assume the whole continent is moving in the same direction at the same rate?

    What do other countries do, maybe the US and UK aren't moving as quickly, but they're still moving.

    0 0 Reply
    1. -tim
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      Re: Why does this matter for a map?

      Different parts of Australia are moving at different rates. Tasmania is running away and the distance between Melbourne and Adelaide is changing. New Zealand is moving even faster. There was a region in the south part of the North Island that moved about 2 feet in the span of a few months (while not setting off any of the normal seismology detectors). As far as I know New Zealand is the only country in the world that has scientifically correct and properly written laws regarding expansion, contraction and shifts of land. Their laws are what most people would assume in that if your existing fence lines squeeze your land, you're out of luck.

      3 0 Reply
  3. Adam 1

    just think about it

    In a couple of million years you will have to worry about our spiders, snakes and drop bears.

    0 0 Reply
  4. mhenriday
    Boffin

    «The Earth moved ...»

    I wish to inform El Reg - that bastion of patent and copyright protection - that I have been in touch with the ghost of the late Ernest Miller Hemingway and we are considering filing for infringement of copyright. A venue in East Texas seems a likely choice....

    Henri

    0 0 Reply
  5. Chris Hills

    GIS ecosystem fail

    As a GIS user myself, this goes to show the massive failure in the GIS ecosystem to cope with plate drift. Whenever coordinates are stored, they should not only have the regular X/Y/Z dimension but also a time dimension. I have yet to come across any GIS software capable of reprojecting (probably the most common GIS operation) data correctly with time.

    0 0 Reply
  6. ShortStuff

    Well the government thinks they can pass laws to stop climate change, so why don't they pass a law to stop tectonic plate movement?

    1 0 Reply

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