Kinematic Datum Based on the ITRF as a Precise, Accurate, and Lasting TRF for Israel

The network of Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) in Israel realized Israel’s current geodetic datum and is used to monitor it. It was done by adopting a set of fixed International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) coordinates for the Israeli CORS stations. This datum serves as the infrastructure for all mapping, surveying, and especially the Cadastre system. The relative motion (3–6 mm/year) along the Dead Sea Fault causes the degradation of the Israeli datum over a relative short time. To manage this problem, the authors examined the use of a kinematic datum. This datum includes a 14-parameter transformation, between ITRF05 to the Israeli plane coordinate system, which is static, in conjunction with a velocity field, all evaluated from global positioning system (GPS) time-series solutions of the CORS in Israel from the past 10 years. The results of this examination are promising and show that with a kinematic datum, the accuracy can be maintained over a long period of time.