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I (. CABARRUS COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENT Post Office Box 707 ~--~/ CONCORD. NORTH CAROLINA 28025 November 8, 1985 Mr. Thomas Rhodes Department of Natural Resources and Community Development Division of Land Resources Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 Ref: Proposed Elimination of the North Carolina Geodetic Survey Dear Mr, Rhodes: It has been brought to the attention of this office that a governor's efficiency study commission has proposed to eliminate the North Carolina Geodetic Survey, a part of the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development. This study commission states that elimination of the North Carolina Geodetic Survey would save the state $652,000 annually and abolish 21 jobs. It also states that the work the North Carolina Geodetic Survey now does can be done by other agencies involved in surveying activities. The North Carolina Geodetic Survey is a highly specialized group of skilled professionals that practice geodesy. This is a branch of the surveying profession that locates and establishes on the earth points and monuments that are tied into a global monumentation network with extremely precise measurements, both horizontally and vertically. This is a type of surveying that cannot be performed efficiently by other agencies involved in surveying practices. Geodetic surveying is a full time job that requires 100% attention, and can only be done by a technical staff comfortable with the rigorous accuracy demands that this profession requires. Why are the geodetic survey standards for accuracy so high?, n=cause this is the base that is networked around the world for global positioning. All major development and important construction projects are tied into this system. Microwave, television, and radio communication towers utilize the geodetic survey for location and direction of their signals. Airports for runway positioning and elevation. N.A.S.A. uses the geodetic survey for its satellite tracking station locations. These are only a few of the geodetic surveys users. More directly related to this office, the North Carolina Land Records Manage- ment Program, established in 1977 by the state legislature, is totally dependent on the base which the geodetic survey has established across the state. All parcel numbers and cadastral mapping used for taxation purposes are created from and tied into the North Carolina State Plane Coordinate System established by the geodetic survey. More than 60 counties in the state are linked together by this system, and others are tying into it. This has been accomplished with an extensive amount of commitment from employees and investment by goverr~ent. Elimination of the geodetic survey at a time when most counties are modernizing and computerizing their land records would surely cause a devastating end to a.modern and efficient land records management information system.