Should Trinidad & Tobago continue to use Naparima 1955?
The primary purpose of the geodetic datum is to provide a referencing system to which positions of features may be related. In the past the area over which a datum could be used was limited and so many such datums exist. Because co-ordinates for the same point have different co-ordinates in each datum it is essential that the datum used is known and well defined. Unfortunately this is not the case in Trinidad and Tobago. The situation is further complicated by the fact that no reliable connection exists in either datum between the two islands of Trinidad and Tobago. This omission is due to the difficulties in establishing such a connection using conventional surveying equipment. It seems beyond doubt that the most used datum is Naparima 1955 consequently there exists a significant amount of work in this datum. It is recommended that this datum continues to be used for land survey in Trinidad and Tobago. Surveys are carried out for many purposes. Maps and plans are prepared in many disc
