Nov. 10, 2006 — Two high-tech devices used to help global positioning systems are now fully operational at UVI's St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses, Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards announced Wednesday.
Called Continuously Operating Referencing Systems (CORS), the devices help surveyors and mapmakers by serving as reference points for global positioning systems. The CORS also measure movement of the Earth's surface after earthquakes to assist in plotting and predicting potential tsunamis.
Theresa Anduze-Parris, a project coordinator at the Lieutenant Governor's Office, said Friday that while the installation was done several months ago, the system had to be tested. "We had to collect sufficient data," she said.
The CORS were installed during the summer by the U.S. Geodetic Survey, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The electronic benchmarks replace the brass survey markers previously used by the Geodetic Survey.
NOAA plans to conduct a series of workshops at UVI to help users in the territory and throughout the Caribbean understand how to access and use the data for disaster planning.
View pictures of the installation and learn more about CORS at this website for St. Thomas or this website for St. Croix.
The CORS are located on top of the Administration and Finance building on the St. Thomas campus and on top of the Student Activity Center on the St. Croix campus. They stand about five feet tall. The installations cost NOAA $100,000, which includes maintenance and training. The university is paying for the electricity to run the systems.
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