Recently, IGD has won the Prozorro tender for the implementation of the leveling networks of Ukraine and Poland. The planned complex of high-precision satellite and geodetic measurements worth UAH 2.5 million is not only of significant economic, but also of strategic and political significance.
The ultimate goal of the geodetic works is the adoption of a resolution on the implementation of a new high-precision height system on the territory of Ukraine – UELN / EVRS2000 (United European Leveling Network / European Vertical Reference System 2000) by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The introduction of the new Height System is scheduled for January 1, 2023.
UELN / EVRS2000 is the main high-altitude reference system in Europe, according to the recommendations of Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation) and EuroGeographics (European Association of National Cartographic, Geodetic and Cadastral Services). That is why the issues of harmonization of high altitude of Ukraine with modern standards in this area are relevant.
Introduction and dissemination of the UELN / EVRS2000 height system on the territory of Ukraine will facilitate Ukraine’s integration into the European economic system, participation in international research on global ecological and geodynamic processes, and the study of the figure of the Earth and gravitational field.
Today in Ukraine there is the Baltic Height System of 1977, which is used to compile topographic maps and plans and to meet the needs of all sectors of the economy, national defense and national security. The starting point of the leveling network that extends the Baltic height system is the zero of the Kronstadt footstock (Russia).
However, the Baltic Height System of 1977 is obsolete because it is not directly related to the European Vertical Reference System and is not adapted to the European Gravimetric Model. There is no possibility to update the height measurements concerning the Kronshtant footstock. Therefore, an alternative is the entry of the leveling (height) network of Ukraine into the United European Leveling Network (UELN), which will ensure the implementation of a high-precision European vertical reference system of heights UELN / EVRS2000 in Ukraine.
When the European Union was created, there was a need for a unification of European height system. To overcome the differences between the national height systems, the EU countries have linked their altitude systems within the UELN (United European Leveling Network). The Amsterdam footstock zero was chosen as the zero point for this European height system called EVRS (European Vertical Reference System).
The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, which entered into full international law on September 1, 2017, today needs to accelerate integration into the global and European information space.