Engineering Standard

SAES-A-100 14 January 2015

Survey Coordinates, Datums and Data Formats
Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department

Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards

Table of Contents

1 Scope............................................................ 2
2 Conflicts and Deviations................................ 2
3 References.................................................... 2
4 Coordinate Systems...................................... 2
5 Vertical Datums............................................. 3
6 Surveys......................................................... 3
7 Cartography................................................... 4
8 General Notes............................................... 5

Previous Issue: 9 December 2014 Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017

Revised paragraphs are indicated in the right margin
Primary contact: Doiron, Shannon Earl (doironse) on +966-13-8809161

Copyright©Saudi Aramco 2015. All rights reserved.

Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department SAES-A-100
Issue Date: 14 January 2015
Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017 Survey Coordinates, Datum's and Data Formats

1 Scope

This Standard establishes the responsibility of Saudi Aramco Geomatics Services

Division in providing the Coordinate systems, Horizontal and Vertical datums, Datum
Transformations and data formats that will be used in engineering, design, construction,
surveying, mapping, charting, and drawings of all Saudi Aramco facilities.

2 Conflicts and Deviations

2.1 Any conflicts between this standard and other applicable Saudi Aramco
Engineering Standards (SAESs), Materials System Specifications (SAMSSs),
Standard Drawings (SASDs), or industry standards, codes, and forms shall be
resolved in writing by the Company or Buyer Representative through the
Manager, Project Management Office Department of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran.

2.2 Direct all requests to deviate from this standard in writing to the Company or
Buyer Representative, who shall follow internal company procedure SAEP-302
and forward such requests to the Manager, Project Management Office
Department of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran.

3 References

The selection of material and equipment, and the design, construction, maintenance, and
repair of equipment and facilities covered by this standard shall comply with the latest
edition of the reference(s) listed below, unless otherwise noted.

 Saudi Aramco Reference

Saudi Aramco Engineering Procedure

SAEP-302 Instructions for Obtaining a Waiver of a Mandatory
Saudi Aramco Engineering Requirements

4 Coordinate Systems

4.1 Coordinates will be based on the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

coordinate system and referenced to the International 1924 Ellipsoid, Ain (Ayn)
Al Abd 1970 Datum¹.
¹ All further reference's herein to UTM means International 1924 Ellipsoid Ain Al Abd 1970 Datum.

4.2 Navigation products such as navigation charts and maps, will be based on the
Mercator Projection with the Standard Parallel in the center of the area of
interest. These products will be referenced to the World Geodetic System 1984
(WGS84). See general note 8.8.

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Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department SAES-A-100
Issue Date: 14 January 2015
Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017 Survey Coordinates, Datum's and Data Formats

4.3 Major Plant facilities will be referenced to a local plant grid (see section 6.5)
which in turn is tied into the UTM coordinate system

4.4 All conversions between datum's shall be based on Saudi Aramco Geomatics
Services Division transformation parameters. See general note 8.1.

5 Vertical Datums

5.1 Offshore depth soundings are referenced to Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT),
(see cartography 7.3 and general note 8.4).

5.2 Land elevations are referenced to Saudi Aramco Vertical Datum of 1978
(SAVD 1978), 1994 adjustment (see general note 8.7).

6 Surveys

6.1 All surveying (land, photogrammetric, hydrographic) shall be conducted in

consultation with Saudi Aramco's' Geomatics Services Division (GSD).
GSD will provide consultative assistance and support to Proponent
organizations who wish to obtain surveying services through Saudi Aramco
approved General Engineering Contractors or General Surveying Service
Contractors. Proponent organizations are advised to include surveying services
in the Project Proposal prior to requesting ERA approval.

6.2 Survey monuments shall bear definite identification for future reference.
Type of survey monument shall be approved by the Chief-Geomatics Services.

6.3 Projects and Plants shall have at least three (3) survey monuments. The minimum
distance between any two monuments shall be fifty (50) meters. The location of
each monument shall be referenced to UTM Coordinates and SAVD 1978
elevation.

6.4 Saudi Aramco Geomatics Services Division shall be responsible for quality
control and quality assurance surveys required on all Saudi Aramco projects.

6.5 The establishment of Plant Coordinate Systems on new facilities shall be the
responsibility of the proponent organization; Saudi Aramco Geomatics Services
Division shall be responsible for quality control and for tying the Plant System
into the UTM Coordinate System.

6.6 “As-Built” surveys shall be based on actual field measurements referenced to

the UTM or local (plant) Coordinate systems and SAVD 1978.

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Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department SAES-A-100
Issue Date: 14 January 2015
Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017 Survey Coordinates, Datum's and Data Formats

6.7 “As-Built” surveys should be accompanied by a method statement detailing the

equipment, methods, calibration values, transformation parameter values and
accuracies obtained in performing the survey.

6.8 “As-Built” surveys eligible for use in updating the Geodatabase must consist of
3D CAD files (that is CAD files with elements whose Z value is equal to the
SAVD 1978 elevation of the surveyed feature), the X & Y values of the
elements must be compliant with the UTM Coordinate System, Ain Al Abd
(1970) Datum or other approved Coordinate System and Datum (see general
note 8.9).

6.9 “As-Built” surveys of Pipelines and Power-lines may consist of a 3D coordinate

listing in a Comma Separated Variable (CSV) format, referenced by Point ID
and Description to the Design Drawings as described in general note 8.10.

6.10 2D “As-Built” Surveys may at the discretion of Saudi Aramco Geomatics

Services Division be placed in a temporary display layer of the Geodatabase until
such times as the 3D survey of the facilities is completed by the Update Program.

7 Cartography

7.1 All mapping and charting shall be the responsibility of Saudi Aramco Geomatics
Services Division.

7.2 Base Mapping is Geomatics Services Division's functional responsibility and as

such they shall be the official source for this type of mapping. Base Maps are
based on Ain Al Abd 1970 datum, Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC) Projection.

7.3 Engineering mapping and charting coordinates shall be based on UTM.

Elevations shall be based on SAVD 1978 for land and Lowest Astronomical
Tide for offshore. See general notes 8.7 & 8.8.

7.4 Navigational Products shall be based on an Orthomorphic Projection such as

Mercator, referenced to WGS 84. These products will incorporate a geographic
graticule that facilitates the measurement of Latitude and Longitude positions.
Positions will be quoted in Degrees, Minutes and decimals of minutes,
i.e., 28º 35.5' N, 49º 52.7'E.

7.5 Overall plant and facility drawings and maps shall show a minimum of three (3)
survey monuments with UTM coordinates and SAVD 1978 elevations.

7.6 Route drawings for linear facilities shall show the UTM coordinates on
beginning and ending points, and changes in direction. Stationing is defined as
the accumulated horizontal ground distance, and shall be expressed in
Kilometers plus meters (km + m).

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Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department SAES-A-100
Issue Date: 14 January 2015
Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017 Survey Coordinates, Datum's and Data Formats

7.7 All large scale site mapping for construction purposes shall be based on a local
ground (plant) coordinate system and shall be referenced to the UTM coordinate
system.

7.8 All transformation equations to relate UTM to Local (Plant) coordinates shall be
developed by Geomatics Services Division.

7.9 Engineering Drawings using surveying information shall reference the survey
map or chart number used as a source. Original mapping shall not be modified
in any way.

8 General Notes

8.1 Implementation of these standards by converting other coordinate systems, such

as WGS84, shall be the responsibility of individual departments. All such
conversions shall be based on Saudi Aramco Geomatics Services Division
transformation parameters.

8.2 The term WGS84 is a reference ellipsoid to which satellite based positions are
usually referenced. The WGS84 datum should be explicitly identified with its
reference, either international or local. The current Saudi Aramco WGS84
datum - is identified as Saudi Aramco WGS84 (1998), all WGS84 vertical
values will be given in terms of the ellipsoid height.

8.3 Saudi Aramco Geomatics Services Division will provide assistance in converting
from a named WGS84 datum to the Saudi Aramco Ain Al Abd (1970) Datum by
any of the following methods:
a) Conversion formula and/or tables and methods.
b) Coordinates of reference control stations on the Saudi Aramco Ain Al Abd
(1970) Horizontal Datum and on the SAVD (1978) Vertical datum to
enable the user to 'calibrate' their survey systems.
c) Coordinates pairs of reference stations given with values expressed in
terms of the Saudi Aramco Ain Al Abd (1970) Horizontal Datum/SAVD
(1978) Vertical datum and Saudi Aramco WGS84 (1998) Datum to enable
the user to compute their own transformation parameters.

8.4 Saudi Aramco Tide Tables provide predicted tidal elevations referenced to
Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT).

8.5 To obtain accurate horizontal ground distances obtained from UTM coordinates
(or opposite), sea level factor and scale (projection) factor corrections (or a
locally computed combined factor) shall be applied. Scale factor corrections
should be calculated on a project by project basis (except for long pipelines

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Document Responsibility: Project Management Office Department SAES-A-100
Issue Date: 14 January 2015
Next Planned Update: 27 June 2017 Survey Coordinates, Datum's and Data Formats

which should be segmented). Scale factor parameters shall be referenced on

each sheet.

8.6 The unit of distance measurement and elevation for engineering projects,
mapping, and charting shall be meters. One meter equals 3.2808398950
international feet, or 3.2808333333 U.S. feet (Survey Feet). One international
foot equals 0.3048 meter exactly.

8.7 “Saudi Aramco Vertical Datum of 1978” (SAVD 1978) is based on the
Benchmark “Monument B” located at the Dhahran Airport, having a preliminary
elevation of 24.640 meters as established by the Saudi Arabian Government in
1978. SAVD 1978 approximates Mean Sea Level (MSL) at Ras Tanura as
observed in 1969. The following equation relates SAVD 1978 to Jiddah 1969
datum (Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Aerial Survey Dept):
SAVD 1978 elevations – 0.79 meters = Jiddah 1969 datum elevations
8.8 Charts produced for navigational purposes shall be produced on the Mercator
Projection to conform with International Charting Standards. Navigation products
shall be based on WGS84 Ellipsoid to allow the plotting of positions obtained
from satellite navigation systems. This also relates to online charting information
systems, which by International Standards must be based on WGS84.

8.9 “As-Built” CAD files eligible for Geodatabase updating should consist of a
contiguous master design file/drawing which may be referenced to sheet files,
the graphic elements must conform to a documented standard which can be used
to prepare tables to extract the elements into the Geodatabase structure.

8.10 Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files provided as part of an “As-Built”

submission should consist of an Identifier (used to reference the point to the 2D
drawing), X,Y and Z coordinate values in an approved coordinate system and
datum, and a documented 'Feature Code' to be used to import the element to the
correct Geodatabase feature class. Each 'Feature Code' must be documented as
to horizontal and vertical location of the surveyed point and all linear features
must consist of unbroken sequences of points.

Revision Summary
9 December 2014 Editorial revision due to the name change of Surveying Services Division (SSD) to
Geomatics Services Division (GSD) and Project Support and Controls Department to
Project Management Office Department.
14 January 2015 Editorial revision to clarify land elevation reference.

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