Long before satellites orbited the Earth, humans relied on the stars and the sun to find their way. Today, GPS does far more than help us find an address. It underlies surveying, mapping, construction, agriculture, utilities, engineering, and countless commercial real estate applications.

That is why a major change to America’s geospatial infrastructure deserves the attention of real estate professionals.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Geodetic Survey is modernizing the National Spatial Reference System, the federal framework underlying the coordinates and elevations used throughout the United States. Existing coordinates in North America can shift 1 – 4 meters horizontally and up to about 1 meter vertically because older datums are offset from the Earth’s center and have a tilted vertical bias.

For commercial real estate purchasers, developers, owners and operators, that shift of up to the equivalent of 13 feet, is not merely a technical issue for surveyors. It can affect land surveys, site plans, floodplain determinations, easements, utility locations, GIS databases, development approvals and construction control.

The 2026 Modernization

The current GPS system relies principally upon NAD 83 for horizontal positioning and NAVD 88 for elevations. NGS is replacing them with four new terrestrial reference frames, including NATRF2022 for the North American plate, and a new gravity based vertical datum, NAPGD2022. NGS is also developing SPCS2022 to replace the existing State Plane Coordinate Systems.

The reason is technological. NAD 83 and NAVD 88 were developed using surveying methods and reference networks that predate today’s highly precise satellite positioning and gravity measurements. NGS describes NAD 83 as being approximately 2.2 meters non-geocentric, while NAVD 88 has a significant vertical bias and tilt relative to modern geoid models.

The modernized NSRS will rely much more heavily on GNSS observations, continuously operating reference stations, Earth’s center of mass and gravity measurements. It also incorporates tectonic plate motion and time-dependent positioning.

The Land Is Not Moving. The Reference System Is.

This distinction is critical.

A property does not move because NGS changes its datum. But the coordinates used to describe where that property is located can change when converted from one reference framework to another.

For commercial real estate, even a difference measured in meters can matter.

Consider a property acquired using an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey. The survey may identify a building, parking lot, access easement, utility corridor or other feature using coordinates tied to a particular datum and coordinate system.

Years later, a developer commissions a new survey using the modernized NSRS.

If the two datasets are not properly transformed, the coordinates may not align—even though the building, parking lot and easement have not moved.

That creates potential problems when combining:

• Existing ALTA/NSPS surveys with new surveys;
• Boundary and easement information with GIS databases;
• Utility locations with civil engineering plans;
• Floodplain maps with site elevations;
• Existing improvements with redevelopment plans;
• Environmental sampling locations with historical reports;
• Recorded survey exhibits with new boundary surveys; and
• Government mapping with private development plans.

NGS anticipates that transforming legacy data will be an important part of the transition.

The Deed and Easement Problem

The issue becomes particularly important when coordinates find their way into legal descriptions or exhibits.

Most deeds do not convey property simply by latitude and longitude. They generally rely upon metes and bounds, monuments, courses and distances, plats and other traditional descriptions.

But commercial real estate increasingly depends upon digital information: GIS databases, survey coordinates, engineering files, aerial imagery, utility mapping and construction models.

That creates a potential disconnect between the legal description of the property and its digital description.

For example, an easement depicted using coordinates could appear to occupy a different location if a legacy NAD 83 dataset is improperly overlaid on a dataset using NATRF2022.

This does not mean that millions of deeds will become invalid when the NSRS is modernized. It means that real estate professionals should stop assuming that a coordinate is meaningful without knowing the reference system in which it was created.

Due Diligence Needs a New Question

Commercial real estate buyers should begin asking their surveyors, engineers and other consultants:

What datum, realization, coordinate reference system and epoch underlie this survey or dataset?

For significant acquisitions and development projects, purchasers should consider identifying existing:

1. ALTA/NSPS land surveys;
2. Boundary and topographic surveys;
3. Civil engineering plans;
4. Floodplain and stormwater information;
5. Utility mapping;
6. Environmental sampling locations;
7. Easement exhibits;
8. GIS databases; and
9. Construction control information.

The objective is not necessarily to resurvey everything. Legacy information may be transformed into the modernized system. But the transformation must be understood and documented.

What Should Real Estate Businesses Do Now?

There is a particularly good reason to begin planning now.

NGS currently says that the existing NSRS remains the official system while the modernization is being tested and implemented. At the same time, NGS has established January 13, 2027 as the deadline for submitting geodetic survey projects intended to create or update geodetic control in the current NSRS.

For commercial real estate, the prudent response is not panic. It is document control.

Purchase agreements, development agreements, survey specifications, easements, deeds, construction documents and GIS protocols should identify the applicable datum and coordinate reference system whenever coordinates or elevations matter. But be aware that with respect to purchase agreements, Maryland and several other jurisdictions have recently banned the sale of precise GPS and geolocation data in the name of consumer privacy. This Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 conflicts with the goal of more accurately describing location and boundaries.

Surveyors and engineers should be asked to identify the reference system used for both new work and legacy data. Developers should make sure that multiple consultants working on the same project are working from compatible spatial references.

A Coordinate Without Its Datum Is Incomplete Information

The NSRS modernization is a major improvement in the accuracy and usefulness of America’s geospatial infrastructure. But the transition will require commercial real estate owners and developers to manage two generations of spatial information.

The companies that identify their legacy surveys, GIS data, easement exhibits, and elevation information now will be better positioned to avoid surprises later.

Because the last place a real estate owner should discover that two datasets do not align is at closing, during construction or in litigation.

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