July 16, 2008
NEW CORS NETWORK IN ETHIOPIA
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is assisting Ethiopia in building a network
of Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and making the data from these
stations available to the public through the NGS website. Data for three of the
four GPS Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) constructed in Ethiopia
are now available. These stations were constructed as a partnership between NGS
and the Ethiopian Mapping Authority (EMA) who have full control and responsibility
for their operation. This effort was funded by the support of the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID). NGS will be working with EMA to the
requirements for allowing the use of the NGS GPS Online Positioning User
Service (OPUS) http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/OPUS/ in the near future.
The Ethiopian CORS network will provide a stable coordinate system for all future
geodetic and cadastral surveys and geographic information system developments in
Ethiopia and are also available for similar activities in neighboring countries,
thus providing a significant improvement in the African Geodetic Reference
Frame (AFREF) initiative.
