PRINTER'S NO. 495
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.513
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY DAVANZO AND JAMES, FEBRUARY 5, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS AND
OPERATIONS, FEBRUARY 5, 2025
AN ACT
Providing for Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System, for
notation requirements and for duties of State Geospatial
Coordinating Board; and making a repeal.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania
State Plane Coordinate System Act.
Section 2. Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
(a) System.--The most recent system of plane coordinates
based on the National Spatial Reference System, known as the
State Plane Coordinate System, which has been established by the
National Geodetic Survey or its successors for defining and
stating the horizontal positions or locations of points on the
surface of the earth within this Commonwealth, shall be known as
the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
(b) Parameters.--The defining parameters of the Pennsylvania
State Plane Coordinate System, including zone definitions, shall
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18 be defined and published by the National Geodetic Survey or its
successors as a part of the overall State Plane Coordinate
System. The defining parameters may be requested to be changed
by the State Geospatial Coordinating Board or the Department of
Transportation or the successors or designees of the State
Geospatial Coordinating Board or the Department of
Transportation.
(c) Geodetic datums.--The official geodetic datums to which
geodetic coordinates, including, but not limited to, latitude,
longitude, ellipsoid height, orthometric height or dynamic
height, are referenced within this Commonwealth shall be as
defined for the National Spatial Reference System or its
successors and may be accessed via the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Continuously Operating Reference
Stations Network.
(d) Previous versions.--Previous versions of the
Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System shall include the
Pennsylvania Coordinate System of 1927 and the Pennsylvania
Coordinate System of 1983 as specified by the act of June 2,
1937 (P.L.1208, No.310), entitled "An act to describe, define,
and officially adopt a system of coordinates for designating the
positions of points on the surface of the earth within the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
Section 3. Description of Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
System.
The Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System shall consist
of two layers of zones as follows:
(1) a single zone with full coverage of this
Commonwealth; and
(2) a set of smaller regional zones, as specified under
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30 section 5, that together provide the same coverage as
specified under paragraph (1).
Section 4. Use of layers and zones.
(a) Uses.--The layer specified under section 3(1) is
designed for Statewide geospatial datasets. The layer specified
under section 3(2) is designed for engineering or surveying
projects.
(b) Determination.--The determination of which layer and
zone to use shall be a user decision based on individual and
specific needs.
Section 5. Regional zones.
For use of the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System,
this Commonwealth shall be divided into smaller regional zones
as established by the National Geodetic Survey or its successors
as specified under section 2(b).
Section 6. Coordinates and distances.
(a) Coordinates.--The plane coordinates of a point on the
surface of the earth, to be used for expressing the geographic
position or location of the point in the appropriate zone of the
Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System, shall consist of two
distances expressed in meters and decimals of a meter or
International Feet and decimals of a foot.
(b) Distances.--
(1) One of the distances specified in subsection (a),
which shall be known as the "east or x-coordinate," shall
give the distance east of the y-axis. The other distance
specified under subsection (a), which shall be known as the
"north or y-coordinate," shall give the distance north of the
x-axis.
(2) The y-axis of any zone shall be parallel with the
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30 central meridian of that zone.
(3) The x-axis of any zone shall be at right angles to
the central meridian of that zone.
(4) An International Foot, which equals 0.3048 meters
exactly, shall be used for all foot distances and coordinates
unless the distances or coordinates are tied to one of the
previous versions of the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
System specified under section 2(d).
(5) The U.S. Survey Foot, which equals 1200/3937 meters
exactly or 0.3048006 meters approximately, shall be
superseded by the International Foot as specified under
paragraph (4) as determined by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology.
Section 7. Notation requirements.
All of the following shall be named in any land description,
plat, map, report of survey or other document in which
coordinates based on the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
System are used:
(1) The Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
(2) The name of the zone, either Statewide or regional,
as established by the National Geodetic Survey or its
successors in accordance with section 2(b).
(3) The source geodetic datum and decimal-year epoch
date of the survey or coordinate derivation or calculation.
Section 8. Duties of State Geospatial Coordinating Board.
The State Geospatial Coordinating Board shall transmit a
notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in
the next available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin upon the
release of the State Plane Coordinate System 2022 by the
National Geodetic Survey or its successors.
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30 Section 9. Construction.
Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the
appropriate use of other datums and other geodetic reference
networks.
Section 10. Repeals.
The act of June 2, 1937 (P.L.1208, No.310), entitled "An act
to describe, define, and officially adopt a system of
coordinates for designating the positions of points on the
surface of the earth within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,"
is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with this act.
Section 11. Effective date.
This act shall take effect as follows:
(1) The following shall take effect immediately:
Section 8.
This section.
(2) The remainder of this act shall take effect upon
publication of the notice under section 8.
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