Applications of GNSS in West Africa

The applications of GNSS in West Africa are enhanced by the objectives of the African Geodetic Reference Frame (AFREF) which is to establish an unified reference frame through the use of Space Geodesy Techniques, GNSS in particular, to tie various national and regional reference networks of Africa. The use of GNSS in West Africa, currently involving mostly the Global Positioning System (GPS) is for any operation that requires determination of accurate positions such as in the Oil/Gas and Solid Mineral Industry (Land and Deep Offshore exploration, prospecting/production, geohazard survey, pipelines laying/maintence, boundary demarcation, transportation, etc), mapping for socio-economic development, political/administrative boundary demarcation, geodynamics and natural hazard studies, commercial Air and Sea Transportation, the TV and Telecommunication industry, etc. The effective applications of GNSS listed herein demand determination of unified accurate datum transformation which AFREF seeks to establish for each African nation and the entire Africa. The 1^st author´s determination of 7 Parameters geodetic Datum Transformation in Southern Nigeria for The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) the accuracy analysis are discussed.