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International Feet vs. US Feet measurements

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

There seems to be several terms used to describe measurements in units of feet.

Is the "matching" chart below correct with respect to Int'l vs. U.S.?

"Imperial is the one that confuses me the most, because i read that the U.S. is the only country still using it. If so, why do we also have US Feet?

Thanks,

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Accepted answers

Ayan Palit

The following table should help:

International foot	US survey foot
Imperial foot	US foot
Foot	Survey foot

Note that, ArcGIS Pro didn’t differentiate between the two distinct foot definitions previously and this was updated in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.

As in the NOAA publication referenced:

"U.S. survey foot is retired and replaced by international foot."

"From this point forward, surveyors will refer to the international foot as simply the foot."

AndrewLeason

Those terms have been in ArcGIS for years. However, if we now remove them then data that people have been using in those units will suddenly stop working, which would be a problem for a lot of users.

All comments

AndrewLeason

Craig,

The difference between International and US Survey Feet is that the international foot is defined as 0.3048 meters, whereas the US survey foot is 1200/3937 meters (or 0.30480061). However, earlier this year Congress retired the US survey foot as a unit of measure.

I hope this helps, Andrew.

Ayan Palit

@Craig_Eissler_Iceman Great question! Looks like you have screenshots from ArcGIS documentation - always helpful if you include the reference link.

Anyway, if your focus is Feet, there are just two:

1 International foot = 0.3048 meters

1 US survey foot = 0.3048006096 meters

The two federal agencies, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) retired use of the “U.S. survey foot” on December 31, 2022.

Reference: https://www.noaa.gov/stories/thinking-on-our-feet-december-31-marks-end-of-us-survey-foot

US survey units are based on imperial units (British) and sometimes used interchangeably. As noted above there may be a slight difference between specific US survey units and its corresponding imperial units.

Reference: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/editing/distance-formats-for-editing.htm

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

Thanks for that info, but now I guess I have even more questions

If US Foot and Survey Foot are the same, then US Foot is being retired, as well?

And, what about my Imperial question?

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

Yes, but what about answering my question with the different results using the same unit of measure?

Ayan Palit

@Craig_Eissler_Iceman It will help if you provide specific links, tools and version of ArcGIS Pro being used.

Note that, ArcGIS Pro didn’t differentiate between the two distinct foot definitions previously and this was updated in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

I am NOT using two different units of measure. Both are being calculated using NAD83 State Plane, Texas Central, Feet.

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

And, there are not just 2 "terms", there are 5 -- and I am attempting to associate them with the 2 you mention. ...All of the terms below are used in ArcGIS, so it's confusing which are synonymous.

International Foot
US Foot

(AND)

Feet
Survey Feet
Imperial

RichlandGIS

Perhaps you should actually 'post' that question...

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

I did in another Post, but the person replying brought it to this Post, so then things got tangled up.

Ayan Palit

The following table should help:

International foot	US survey foot
Imperial foot	US foot
Foot	Survey foot

Note that, ArcGIS Pro didn’t differentiate between the two distinct foot definitions previously and this was updated in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.

As in the NOAA publication referenced:

"U.S. survey foot is retired and replaced by international foot."

"From this point forward, surveyors will refer to the international foot as simply the foot."

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

Thanks, but then why is ArcGIS now recognizing these terms/measurements that are retired.

...It seems "opposite", unless I'm still not understanding

AndrewLeason

Those terms have been in ArcGIS for years. However, if we now remove them then data that people have been using in those units will suddenly stop working, which would be a problem for a lot of users.

Craig_Eissler_Iceman

Understood. Your initial Reply indicating some of those had been "retired" is part of what confused me because I still see them in ArcGIS. ...But, now I know what you mean. Thanks,

GerardAshton

I won't comment on how things work within ESRI products. The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) hosted a webinar on the new State Plane Coordinate System 2022 November 10, 2022. They made available a PowerPoint of the slides from the webinar. Slide 47 of that PowerPoint shows that, officially, Texas uses the survey foot for the Texas State Plane Coordinate System of 1983. Pretty much all the official announcements say that the survey foot may continue to be used for legacy applications, and if you browse through the NGS PowerPoint or look at the other webinar resources, you will see that SPCS 83 is considered a legacy application and survey foot will continue to be supported, in the states that chose it, permanently. In those states, when using an SPCS, the foot change will occur project by project as each project switches to SPCS 22, or new projects are started in SPCS 22. It's expected SPCS 22 will be available mid-2025.

Ayan Palit

@GerardAshton Thanks for the comments.

A recent blog posting related to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) modernization:

Prepare your data for the National Spatial Reference System modernization of 2022 in the U.S.

Additional notes on Using Foot as Linear Measure Units

danielri

hard to believe NOAA actually said this...because a Survey Foot is not equal in length to a US Foot or International Foot. Over long distances the difference can be significant. Just saying this does not magically update all 225 years of historic records.

danielri

They are NOT the same! Act of Congress does not magically update your Survey Deeds, Records, or To Reach Descriptions in 225 years of historic documents.

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