Meeting Notes Draft-1 s1

MEETING NOTES FINAL CSRC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING January 9, 2008

Location: Telephone Time/Date: 1:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.; January 9, 2008 Members Present: Art Andrew, Brett Baker, Director Yehuda Bock, Giana “Gigi” Cardoza, Ross Carlson, Marti Ikehara, Steve Martin, Steve Sarsfield – 8 (7 = quorum) Members Absent: IGPP Director Catherine Constable, Chairperson Adrian “Dick” Davis, Greg Helmer, John Orcutt, Frank Webb – 5 Others Present: Executive Manager John Canas, Recorder Larry Fenske, Coordinator Maria Turingan – 3 Meeting Leader: Vice Chairperson Art Andrew Agenda: See attached.

1. Welcome: a. Greetings – Vice Chairperson Andrew, who conducted the meeting, welcomed the meeting participants. Chairperson Davis could not participate due to personal commitments. b. Roll Call – Roll call was taken to determine who was in attendance and if a quorum was present. c. Review Agenda – Andrew distributed an agenda early this morning (January 9). The Committee did not make any agenda changes; however, Canas reported that the “Letter of Intent,” which was recently submitted to NGS, required revision. See additional discussion under “Director’s Report,” below. d. Review and Approve 12/5/07 EC Meeting Notes – The meeting notes for the December 5, 2007, Executive Committee (EC) meeting were approved as prepared.

2. Director’s Report: a. Letter of Intent – Director Bock reported that the “Letter of Intent” for FY 08/09 has been submitted to NGS as required by NGS grant procedures. The document, which is two pages, briefly describes the proposed work and provides a listing of proposed efforts with funding needs. The total funding request is $1.2 million. Canas reported that he received word from NGS that the Letter must be revised (the cover page must stand alone). Turingan will made the necessary change and resubmit the document to NGS by the due date (January 10). Bock added that the detailed proposal is not due until February. Thus, there is ample time for the EC members and others to review, and comment on, the proposal. NGS will response to CSRC by January 18, on whether CSRC will be encouraged to submit a detailed proposal. b. Federal Funding – The Federal Budget for NOAA/NGS has been approved by Congress. The Budget includes $5 million for national height modernization (HM), which is less than previous years. In appears that specific allocations have been provided for Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, and South Carolina (such allocations ranged from $188,000 to $423,000 and might include other geodetic work). These state-specific allocations are puzzling since CSRC was told that such allocations (“earmarks”) were not permitted in FY 08/09.

3. Financial Reports: Turingan briefly described the projected financial status of CSRC for FY 07/08. (A printed financial report was not available.) The projected balance at the end of the year is $700. However, she is uncertain about the projected expenses for three work efforts – Central

EC Meeting Notes (1/9/08) Page 1 of 5 Coast HM, SW HM Zone, and HM Projects (Adjust Northern San Joaquin HM and Integrate Data into CSRC Data Portal). These expenses make up the “bulk” of the projected expenses.

4. Executive Manager’s Report: a. PBO Stations and NGS CORS – Canas said that Giovanni Sella, of NGS, has advised him that NGS will not be including all PBO CGPS stations in the NGS database. Stations that are not to be included are those, for which, the positions are likely to change; e.g., stations in the Parkfield area. Canas remarks generated considerable discussion (questions) as follows:  What is NGS’s rationale for this decision? Ikehara stated that NGS desires a stable network. Currently, NGS revises the values for a GCPS station whenever the change in a value exceeds a certain tolerance.  Bock: Why is CSRC requesting the CORS stations to be included in the NGS database? Andrew and others said the stations are needed to improve the use of OPUS in California. Currently, OPUS only uses CGPS stations in NGS’s database, nearby CSRC stations are not used.  Bock: What is the role of CSRC and that of NGS? CSRC should promote the use of its utilities. SCOUT has capabilities that are similar to OPUS. The Committee members agreed; however, (i) CSRC is not well known by private surveyors; (ii) it is difficult to locate the utility programs on the CSRC website; and (iii) OPUS provides a means to check on the results from SCOUT.  How can CSRC educate users on the availability and capabilities of CSRC utility programs? Suggestions included (i) review the usage statistics for SCOUT (Ikehara); (ii) publish brief descriptions of CSRC’s utilities in CLSA publications (Carlson); and (iii) establish a user forum for suggesting improvements to the CSRC website (Ikehara). Conclusion: The EC Committee decided that Ikehara and Andrew are to compile a revised list of CGPS stations, which CSRC desires to be included in the NGS database, and submit the list to NGS. b. HM Zones (Regions) – Earlier this week, Canas distributed a revised map showing the HM Regions (previously called zones). The HM Regions are consistent with the NOAA Regions. c. ASCM Conference – The ASCM Conference will be held in Spokane, Washington on March 4-9, 2008. Canas reported that NGS personnel would make a number of presentations at the conference including a presentation by Bill Henning on RTK GPS. Canas understands that NGS will be posting a draft document on RTK GPS survey standards within 30 days. The League of California Surveying Organization is eagerly waiting for the release of this document. d. HM Partners Meeting – The HM Partners have not met recently. There has been some discussion of having a meeting in late February, but a firm date has not been established.

5. Work Plan/Budget: The basic FY 08/09 Work Plan is included in the “Letter of Intent” and was discussed briefly during earlier discussions. See “Directors Report,” above. The Committee was encouraged to review, and comment on, the FY 08/09 Work Plan. No further discussions occur.

6. Contracts/Project Status Reports: a. Northern San Joaquin Valley Height Modernization – Bock stated that, with the assistance of Davis, the issues regarding the data for this project have been resolved. Currently, Bock and staff are re-RINEXing the data for this project. When the re-RINEXing is completed, Bock and staff will process and adjust the project, except the orthometric height adjustment. Upon

EC Meeting Notes (1/9/08) Page 2 of 5 completion of the horizontal position and ellipsoid height adjustment, the orthometric height adjustment will be performed by the on-call CSRC contractor for the area. b. Central Coast Height Modernization – Ikehara reported that she, CSRC staff, and the contractor met and resolved various issues with the Pocket GPS Manager (PGM) utility program. Several improvements were made to PGM. The contractor completed the observations (except a few re-observations) for the northern portion prior to the holiday break. Currently, the Contractor is observing the Primary Base Stations for the southern portion. These observations should be completed this month. c. Northern California Height Modernization (Caltrans) – This effort will provide an orthometric height adjustment for the large Northern California HM project. Mike Potterfield of Geodetics Solutions is the contractor for this work. He recently submitted a progress report, and Bock reported that Potterfield is making satisfactory progress. In conjunction with this effort, Bock said CSRC staff is entering the remaining station data for this project into PGM.

7. Education and Outreach: a. Exhibit Booth – Andrew reported that Cecilia Whitaker, a CSRC PLS consultant, has completed the preparation of new, updated displays for the exhibit booth. Andrew was unclear whether the displays were for the old booth or a new booth. b. Proposed CSRC/CLSA RTN Workshop – Martin requested and received authorization (approval) to sign, on behalf of CSRC, the MOU from CLSA headquarters regarding the workshop. The MOU was distributed and discussed at last month’s EC meeting. After discussing various potential dates and conflicts, the Committee tentatively scheduled the workshop for two days, one in northern California on May 9, 2008, and the other in southern California on May 16, 2008. Martin is leading the effort to develop a speakers list. He asked the group for suggestions. A number of suggestions were proposed and discussed, including Bock, Whitaker, Bill Henning of NGS (RTK GPS surveys), Ikehara (epochs), Cardoza (Caltrans experiences) and the CSRC Central Coast contractor. The participants also mentioned GPS vendors as potential speakers, but decided not to include any vendor speakers. c. CSU Fresno Conference, January 24-26, 2008 – Andrews said that CSRC would provide an exhibit at this conference. Whitaker has volunteered to lead the effort to monitoring the booth. See additional discussion in the next item. d. CLSA Reno Conference, February 23-27 – Andrews reported that CSRC also would provide an exhibit at this conference and that Whitaker would lead the exhibit monitoring effort. The EC members discussed the availability of handouts for the exhibits at the Fresno and CLSA conferences. It was concluded that Turingan should order additional CSRC pens and contact Whitaker for addition suggestions, including the availability of material to reprint. e. Other Outreach Opportunities – Ikehara stated that Whitaker spoke at the Northern California GPS Users Group meeting in December. She added that Whitaker’s presentation was “excellent” and well received with many questions. Ikehara’s remarks generated a question from Martin. He asked if CSRC would consider providing a small grant to the Northern California GPS Users Group to fund its current website fee. Note: The Group does not have any dues and currently the President is “stuck” with the website fee. The EC members approved a $65.00 annual grant to the User Group for funding the website. Baker is to work with Turingan to ensure payment.

EC Meeting Notes (1/9/08) Page 3 of 5 8. Executive Committee/Coordinating Council: a. EC Meeting Schedule – After discussions, the EC members scheduled the next two EC meeting for February 13, 2008 and March 12, 2008. It was noted that Ikehara would not be available for the February 13 meeting. b. Coordinating Council (CC) Spring 2008 Meeting – After discussing various potential dates and conflicts, the EC members tentatively scheduled the CC Spring 2008 Meeting for May 8 in northern California, at the Santa Clara Valley Water District facilities in San Jose. Baker will verify the date and make the necessary arrangements with the Water District. c. Membership – Carlson, the one-person CSRC Membership Committee, reported that he received only one response from a recent questionnaire that he e-mailed to all CC members. The Committee discussed means to create a greater interest and involvement among CC members in CSRC. The suggestions included the following:  Personalize the individual e-mails that are sent to CC members.  Make telephone calls to each CC member. Sarsfield made this suggestion and volunteer to assist this effort; several other EC members said they also would be willing to assist. Conclusion: Andrew decided to “table” further discussion on his issue until the next EC meeting when Chairperson Davis is available. In the meantime, Carlson will attempt to send individual e-mails to CC member (instead of group e-mail). d. Volunteers – Canas said that Davis had contacted the potential volunteer for CSRC.

9. New Business: There was no new business discussed.

10. Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

Respectively submitted by: Larry Fenske, Recorder

Assisted by and concurred by: Ross Carlson, CSRC Secretary

EC Meeting Notes (1/9/08) Page 4 of 5 CSRC Executive Committee Teleconference January 9, 2008 Agenda Conference Line: 1-866-236-3449 Pass Code: 9833218 (followed by the pound key (#))

TIME TOPIC LEAD

1:30 Welcome All  Roll Call (to determine quorum)  Review Agenda  Review and Approve December 5, 2007 EC Meeting Notes

Director’s Report Bock  Status  NOAA Funding - National HM Program

Financial Report Turingan  Financial Report

Executive Manager’s Report Canas  Status  PBO Stations and NGS CORS  Other Items

Work Plan/Budget Helmer  Status

Contracts/Projects Status Reports All  Northern San Joaquin Valley Height Modernization Bock/Davis  Central Coast Height Modernization Ikehara  Northern California Height Modernization (Caltrans) Helmer

Education & Outreach  Booth Helmer?  Proposed CSRC/CLSA RTN Workshop Martin  CSU Fresno Conference, January 24-26 All  CLSA Reno Conference, February 23-27  Other Outreach Opportunities

Executive Committee/Coordinating Council  EC Meeting Schedule All o Tentative Feb 13th & Mar 12th  CC Spring 2008 Meeting Baker  Membership Carlson  Volunteer Canas/Davis

New Business All  Topics

3:30 ADJOURN

EC Meeting Notes (1/9/08) Page 5 of 5