The European Vertical Reference System (EVRS), Its relation to a World Height System and to the ITRS

Abstract

The Technical Working Group of the IAG Subcornmission for Europe (EUREF) was asked by the European Commission to define a common height reference system for the exchange of geoinformation in Europe and to describe its realization on the basis of the European height projects United European Levelling Network (UELN) and European Vertical Reference Network (EUVN). EUREF decided to define an European Vertical Reference System (EVRS) as world height system (WHS) (http://evrs.leipzig.ifag.de/). EUREF endorsed UELN95/98 and EUVN as realizations of EVRS using the name EVRF2000, characterized by: the datum of ‘Normaal Amsterdams Peil’ (NAP) gravity potential differences with respect to NAP or equivalent normal heights.