Australia is to shift its longitude and latitude to address a gap between local co-ordinates and those from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
Local co-ordinates, used to produce maps and measurements, and global ones differ by more than 1m.
The body responsible for the change said it would help the development of self-driving cars, which need accurate location data to navigate.
Australia moves about 7cm north annually because of tectonic movements.
Modern satellite systems provide location data based on global lines of longitude and latitude, which do not move even if the continents on Earth shift.
The Geocentric Datum of Australia, the country’s local co-ordinate system, was last updated in 1994. Since then, Australia has moved about 1.5 metres north.
So on 1 January 2017, the country’s local co-ordinates will also be shifted further north - by 1.8m.
The over-correction means Australia’s local co-ordinates and the Earth’s global co-ordinates will align in 2020.