From 1 January 2026, European Vertical Reference System introduced in Ukraine

On 1 January 2026, Ukraine officially began using the European Vertical Reference System (EVRS), which was an important step in harmonising the national geodetic infrastructure with the European one.

The transition to EVRS is being carried out in accordance with Resolution No. 590 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 9 June 2023 "Certain issues of using the European Vertical Reference System," which provides for the replacement of the outdated Baltic height system of 1977, which does not provide for its development, adequate accuracy, and connection to the unified height system used by European countries.

The European Vertical Reference System (EVRS) is a unified system of normal gravity-related heights for Europe, based on the Amsterdam footstock level and implemented on the basis of the United European Levelling Network (UELN). Its latest implementation, EVRF2019, provides unified height data for 30 European countries.

In accordance with the requirements of Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), the adoption of the European Vertical Reference System (EVRS) for use in Ukraine is necessary to ensure the harmonisation of the national geospatial data infrastructure with the European one, to improve the accuracy of height determination and their interoperability based on modern scientific approaches.

In 2024-2025, the StateGeoCadastre (State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre) ensured the implementation of measures using the European Vertical Reference System (EVRS), namely:

• joint strict alignment of the levelling (elevation) network of classes I, II, and III of the State Geodetic Network with a continuous assessment of the accuracy of all its elements;
• cataloguing of levelling (altitude) network points: 16,000 – I and II classes, 18,000 – III class;
• creation of a quasi-geoid model that provides a transition from geodetic heights determined from GNSS observations to normal heights in the European Vertical Reference System.

The results of the implementation of the EVRS in accordance with the legislation were transferred to the administrator of the geodetic data bank of the State Geodetic Network – the state enterprise "Scientific Research Institute of Geodesy and Cartography" to ensure the transfer of geodetic data to users.