Justifications and  Benefits

Any development project, application, service or product requiring geo-referencing requires a uniform coordinate reference system. Most countries have some form of national reference system.  These reference systems are usually based on local origin or datum point, which restrict their use to a particular country. This makes makes cross-border mapping, development and planning projects difficult. In some countries more than one reference system is used making it very difficult to cross-reference location information from different parts of the country. This therefore calls for the establishment of a common and uniform continental reference coordinates system.

All African countries have started embracing the use and applications of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies particularly Global Positioning system (GPS) in the various geo-information applications, services and products. GPS is a satellite based positioning system developed by USA initially for military use, though it is now is open to civilian users all over the world.  GPS uses World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) coordinates system. WGS 84 system is a modern, global and uniform coordinate system best fitting the earth.  The International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) is the global terrestrial reference system officially adopted by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). The WGS84 reference system of GPS, which is widely used in the world and Africa as stated earlier, is now identical to ITRS at centimetre level. GPS technology may therefore be used in the implementation of AFREF.

GPS technology is very accessible, precise, economical and sustainable. With the increased use and application of GNSS  and the requirements to relate the GPS solutions with the already existing mapping products based on local and national coordinates reference systems, there is an urgent need to establish and determine the transformation data to and from such systems to GNSS reference systems. This will be achieved on full realization of the AFREF project.

The realization of AFREF has vast potentials for geodesy, mapping, surveying, geo-information, natural hazards mitigation, earth sciences, etc. Its implementation will provide a major springboard for the transfer and enhancement of skills and knowledge in surveying, geodesy and especially Global Navigation Technologies (GNSS) with its applications.

The international framework, of which AFREF will be a part, is a prerequisite for many multi-disciplinary applications. The International GPS Service (IGS), a service of the IAG, supports a number of projects and applications dependent on the robust reference systems that are thriving at both global and regional levels. The classic IGS products, based on the global network provide information to generate global plate motion maps, enable strain and fault motion monitoring for earthquake hazard research and support dense regional GPS networks. This fundamental reference system can further increase the understanding of complex earth science systems and assist and facilitate in solving regional and global problems.