Virginia Law

The systems of plane coordinates that have been established by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey or its successors for defining and stating the positions or locations of points on the surface of the earth within the Commonwealth are to be known and designated as the "Virginia Coordinate System of 1927" and the "Virginia Coordinate System of 1983."

1946, p. 166; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(1); Code 1950, § 55-287; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

For the purpose of the use of the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 and the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, the Commonwealth is divided into a "North Zone" and a "South Zone."

The area now included in the following counties and cities shall constitute the North Zone: Arlington, Augusta, Bath, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Greene, Highland, King George, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, Page, Prince William, Rappahannock, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Warren, and Westmoreland Counties and the Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Manassas, Manassas Park, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester.

The area now included in the following counties and cities shall constitute the South Zone: Accomack, Albemarle, Alleghany, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Brunswick, Buchanan, Buckingham, Campbell, Carroll, Charles City, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Craig, Cumberland, Dickenson, Dinwiddie, Essex, Floyd, Fluvanna, Franklin, Giles, Gloucester, Goochland, Grayson, Greensville, Halifax, Hanover, Henrico, Henry, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Lee, Louisa, Lunenburg, Mathews, Mecklenburg, Middlesex, Montgomery, Nelson, New Kent, Northampton, Northumberland, Nottoway, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George, Pulaski, Richmond, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Southampton, Surry, Sussex, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, Wythe, and York Counties and the Cities of Bristol, Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Chesapeake, Colonial Heights, Covington, Danville, Emporia, Franklin, Galax, Hampton, Hopewell, Lexington, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Newport News, Norfolk, Norton, Petersburg, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Radford, Richmond, Roanoke, Salem, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.

Code 1950, § 55-288.1; 1984, c. 726; 2006, c. 861; 2016, cc. 164, 312; 2019, c. 712.

A. As established for use in the North Zone, the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 or the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 shall be named, and in any land description in which it is used, it shall be designated the "Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, North Zone" or "Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, North Zone."

B. As established for use in the South Zone, the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 or the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 shall be named, and in any land description in which it is used, it shall be designated the "Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, South Zone" or "Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, South Zone."

1946, p. 167; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(2); Code 1950, § 55-289; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

The plane coordinates of a point on the earth's surface, to be used in expressing the position or location of such point in the appropriate zone of these systems, shall be expressed in U.S. survey feet and decimals of a foot. One of these distances, to be known as the "x-coordinate," shall give the position in an east-and-west direction; the other, to be known as the "y-coordinate," shall give the position in a north-and-south direction. These coordinates shall be made to depend upon and conform to the coordinate values for the monumented points of the North American Horizontal Geodetic Control Network as published by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey, or its successors, and whose plane coordinates have been computed on the systems defined in this chapter. Any such station may be used for establishing a survey connection to either Virginia coordinate system.

When converting coordinates in the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 from meters and decimals of a meter to feet and decimals of a foot, the U.S. survey foot conversion factor (one foot equals 1200/3937 meters) shall be used. This requirement does not preclude the continued use of the International foot conversion factor (one foot equals 0.3048 meters) in those counties and cities where this factor was in use prior to July 1, 1992. The plat or plan shall contain a statement of the conversion factor used and the coordinate values of a minimum of two project points in feet.

1946, p. 167; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(3); Code 1950, § 55-290; 1984, c. 726; 1992, c. 1; 2019, c. 712.

When any tract of land to be defined by a single description extends from one into the other of the two coordinate zones established in this chapter, the positions of all points on its boundaries may be referred to either of the two zones, with the zone that is used being specifically named in the description.

1946, p. 167; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(4); Code 1950, § 55-291; 2019, c. 712.

A. For purposes of more precisely defining the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, the following definition by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey is adopted:

The Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, North Zone, is a Lambert conformal projection of the Clarke spheroid of 1896, having standard parallels at north latitudes 38° 02' and 39° 12', along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 78° 30' west of Greenwich with the parallel 37° 40' north latitude, such origin being given the coordinates: x = 2,000,000', and y = 0'.

The Virginia Coordinate System of 1927, South Zone, is a Lambert conformal projection of the Clarke spheroid of 1896, having standard parallels at north latitudes 36° 46' and 37° 58', along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 78° 30' west of Greenwich with the parallel 36° 20' north latitude, such origin being given the coordinates: x = 2,000,000', and y = 0'.

B. For purposes of more precisely defining the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, the following definition by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey is adopted:

The Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, North Zone, is a Lambert conformal conic projection based on the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes 38° 02' and 39° 12', along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 78° 30' west of Greenwich and the parallel 37° 40' north latitude, such origin being given the coordinates: x = 3,500,000 meters and y = 2,000,000 meters.

The Virginia Coordinate System of 1983, South Zone, is a Lambert conformal conic projection based on the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes 36° 46' and 37° 58', along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 78° 30' west of Greenwich and the parallel 36° 20' north latitude, such origin being given the coordinates: x = 3,500,000 meters and y = 1,000,000 meters.

1946, p. 167; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(5); Code 1950, § 55-292; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

The position of the Virginia coordinate systems shall be as marked on the ground by triangulation or traverse stations established in conformity with the standards of accuracy and specifications for first-order and second-order geodetic surveying as prepared and published by the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The geodetic position of stations defining the position of the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927 shall have been rigidly adjusted on the North American Datum of 1927, and the plane coordinates shall have been computed on the Virginia Coordinate System of 1927. The geodetic position of stations defining the position of the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983 shall have been rigidly adjusted on the North American Datum of 1983, and the plane coordinates shall have been computed on the Virginia Coordinate System of 1983. Any such station may be used for establishing a survey connection with the Virginia coordinate systems.

1946, p. 168; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(5); Code 1950, § 55-293; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

No coordinates based on the Virginia coordinate systems, purporting to define the position of a point on a land boundary, shall be presented to be recorded in any public land records or deed records unless such point is within two kilometers of a public or private monumented horizontal control station established in conformity with the standards of accuracy and specifications for second-order, class II or better geodetic surveying as prepared and published by the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Standards and specifications of the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee or its successor in force on the date of such survey shall apply. The publishing of the existing control stations, or the acceptance with intent to publish the new established control stations, by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey constitutes evidence of adherence to the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee specifications. The two kilometers' limitation may be modified by a duly authorized state agency to meet local conditions. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be interpreted as preventing the use of the Virginia coordinate systems in any unrecorded deeds, maps, or computations.

1946, p. 168; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(6); Code 1950, § 55-294; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

The use of the terms "Virginia Coordinate System of 1927" or "Virginia Coordinate System of 1983" on any map, report of survey, or other document shall be limited to coordinates based on the Virginia coordinate systems as defined in this chapter.

1946, p. 168; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(7); Code 1950, § 55-295; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

For purposes of describing the location of any survey station or land boundary corner in the Commonwealth, it shall be considered a complete, legal, and satisfactory description of such location to give the position of such survey station or land boundary corner on the system of plane coordinates defined in this chapter. Nothing contained in this chapter shall require any purchaser or mortgagee to rely on a description any part of which depends exclusively upon either Virginia coordinate system.

1946, p. 168; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(8); Code 1950, § 55-296; 1984, c. 726; 2019, c. 712.

Old Dominion University is designated as the authorized state agency to collect and distribute information, to authorize such modifications as are referred to in § 1-607, and generally to advise with and assist appropriate state and federal agencies and individuals interested in the development of the provisions of this chapter.

1946, p. 168; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 2849(10); Code 1950, § 55-297; 1966, c. 55; 1968, c. 223; 1977, c. 114; 2019, c. 712.