GET READY FOR MODERNIZATION CHECKLIST

Watch for TSRC

Join our mailing list for updates as adoption approaches. TSRC will announce Texas's adoption timeline well in advance. You won't be caught off guard. Sign-up is on the Contact TSRC page.

Bookmark NGS Beta

Get familiar with the new tools and coordinate values now, so you can catch errors when data gets misaligned later. The beta tools are already public. You can explore SPCS2022 zones, test the NAPGD2022 vertical datum, and see how your area's coordinates will look under the modernized system, well before adoption.

Waiting until adoption day to look at these for the first time means learning the new system and meeting a deadline at the same time. Looking now means you're just learning. These tools can give you an idea of the potential errors that may pop up if datums or units get mixed up after adoption. Knowing what to look for is your first defense to find and correct misalignments in data before it becomes a real problem.

Audit your clients

Projects with federal ties may transition earlier than others. Federal agencies, DOTs, and other government entities may adopt the modernized NSRS on their own schedules, independent of when Texas formally adopts. If any of your active or upcoming projects involve federal funding, federal review, or federal deliverable standards, start those conversations with your clients now, not after a deliverable gets rejected for being in the wrong datum.

Even if you are not working on federally funded projects, knowing your clients' plans for existing and future projects will help you plan properly for your project's success. You might even be the first person to alert them that the change is coming. Be your clients' trusted advisor, and know you can direct them to TSRC for more information and assistance.

Audit your software

Know what coordinate system and unit of measure your tools are set to. Don't rely on default templates. Make sure your staff understands these settings now. Software updates can silently change default units without warning. A data collector or CAD program that switches from U.S. Survey Foot to International Foot in an update won't flag it, throw an error, or fail a closure check. It will just produce coordinates that are wrong by a small, consistent amount that's easy to miss and hard to trace back later.

Check your settings on every job, every file, not just once. Building this muscle memory into your daily workflow can be the difference your project needs for success.

Label everything

Every deliverable should include datum, epoch, zone, unit of measure, and control source/method. This is the single most important habit for surviving any datum transition. History shows that past transitions weren't broken by the datum change itself. They were broken by undocumented data: files with no datum identifier, surveys that just said "state plane, feet" with nothing more.

Clear labeling is how you protect yourself, your clients, and your license. Don't rely on control sheets or surveyor's reports to carry your metadata through a project. When every deliverable that leaves your desk is clearly labeled, there is less chance that the data becomes undocumented.

tell a friend

Spread the word that new datums are coming. Start training your staff to understand these transitions now. The more people in Texas's geospatial community who understand what's changing and why, the smoother this transition will be for everyone. Talk to your colleagues, your clients, and other professionals in your network. Not everyone follows NGS announcements or attends TSPS events, and some may not know a change is coming at all.

A quick conversation now could save someone a costly mistake later. If you know a company, agency, or professional who would benefit from TSRC's updates, point them to our mailing list. The wider this information spreads before adoption, the fewer surprises there will be for Texas's geospatial community as a whole.