This is unfortunate for infrastructure but is why we're able to use GPS to measure plate tectonic motions. The geologic consequences of (relative) plate motions

This is unfortunate for infrastructure but is why we're able to use GPS to measure plate tectonic motions. The geologic consequences of (relative) plate motions are also unfortunate for infrastructure, as well... Out of curiosity, I just checked to see where the fastest velocity on earth relative to a no-net-rotation reference frame is. Using data from the Global Strain Rate Map[0] (I think this is the study, I was emailed the dataset by the first author a couple of years ago), the maximum velocity is on the Philippine Sea Plate immediately east of Taiwan, clocking in at 471 mm/yr. So any undersea points measured in lat/lon (i.e. WGS84) will be inaccurate at almost half a meter per year (or 0.000005 degrees). [0]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GC005407/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GC005407/full