diff --git a/src/pg/sql/40_observatory_utility.sql b/src/pg/sql/40_observatory_utility.sql
index c3fc1f9..bf01fe0 100644
--- a/src/pg/sql/40_observatory_utility.sql
+++ b/src/pg/sql/40_observatory_utility.sql
@@ -48,21 +48,43 @@ CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cdb_observatory._OBS_GetColumnData(
 RETURNS SETOF JSON
 AS $$
 BEGIN
+
+  -- figure out highest-weight geometry_id/timespan pair for the first data column
+  -- TODO this should be done for each data column separately
+  IF geometry_id IS NULL OR timespan IS NULL THEN
+    EXECUTE '
+      SELECT data_t.timespan timespan, geom_c.id boundary_id
+      FROM observatory.obs_table data_t,
+           observatory.obs_column_table data_ct,
+           observatory.obs_column data_c,
+           observatory.obs_column_table geoid_ct,
+           observatory.obs_column_to_column c2c,
+           observatory.obs_column geom_c
+      WHERE data_c.id = $2
+           AND data_ct.column_id = data_c.id
+           AND data_ct.table_id = data_t.id
+           AND geoid_ct.table_id = data_t.id
+           AND geoid_ct.column_id = c2c.source_id
+           AND c2c.reltype = ''geom_ref''
+           AND geom_c.id = c2c.target_id
+           AND CASE WHEN $3 IS NULL THEN True ELSE $3 = timespan END
+           AND CASE WHEN $1 IS NULL THEN True ELSE $1 = geom_c.id END
+      ORDER BY geom_c.weight DESC,
+               data_t.timespan DESC
+      LIMIT 1;
+    ' INTO timespan, geometry_id
+    USING geometry_id, column_ids[1], timespan;
+  END IF;
+
   RETURN QUERY
   EXECUTE '
   WITH geomref AS (
     SELECT t.table_id id
     FROM observatory.OBS_column_to_column c2c,
-         observatory.OBS_column c,
-         observatory.OBS_column_table geom_ct,
-         observatory.OBS_column_table data_ct,
-         observatory.OBS_table t
+         observatory.OBS_column_table ct
     WHERE c2c.reltype = ''geom_ref''
-      AND c.column_id = c2c.target_id
       AND c2c.target_id = $1
       AND c2c.source_id = ct.column_id
-    ORDER BY weight DESC
-    LIMIT 1
     ),
   column_ids as (
     select row_number() over () as no, a.column_id as column_id from (select unnest($2) as column_id) a
diff --git a/src/pg/test/expected/41_observatory_augmentation_test.out b/src/pg/test/expected/41_observatory_augmentation_test.out
index e1ea9d7..0094351 100644
--- a/src/pg/test/expected/41_observatory_augmentation_test.out
+++ b/src/pg/test/expected/41_observatory_augmentation_test.out
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ t
 obs_getmeasure_zhvi_point_test
 t
 (1 row)
+obs_getmeasure_zhvi_point_default_latest_test
+t
+(1 row)
 obs_getmeasure_total_pop_point_test
 t
 (1 row)
diff --git a/src/pg/test/sql/41_observatory_augmentation_test.sql b/src/pg/test/sql/41_observatory_augmentation_test.sql
index a874bbd..0899926 100644
--- a/src/pg/test/sql/41_observatory_augmentation_test.sql
+++ b/src/pg/test/sql/41_observatory_augmentation_test.sql
@@ -139,6 +139,12 @@ SELECT abs(OBS_GetMeasure_zhvi_point - 583600) / 583600 < 0.001 AS OBS_GetMeasur
   'us.zillow.AllHomes_Zhvi', 'area', 'us.census.tiger.zcta5', '2014-01'
 ) As t(OBS_GetMeasure_zhvi_point);
 
+-- Point-based OBS_GetMeasure with zillow default to latest
+SELECT abs(OBS_GetMeasure_zhvi_point_default_latest - 583600) / 583600 < 0.001 AS OBS_GetMeasure_zhvi_point_default_latest_test FROM cdb_observatory.OBS_GetMeasure(
+  ST_SetSRID(ST_Point( -73.94602417945862, 40.6768220087458), 4326),
+  'us.zillow.AllHomes_Zhvi'
+) As t(OBS_GetMeasure_zhvi_point_default_latest);
+
 -- Point-based OBS_GetMeasure, default normalization (area)
 -- is result within 0.1% of expected
 SELECT abs(OBS_GetMeasure_total_pop_point - 10923.093200390833950) / 10923.093200390833950 < 0.001 As OBS_GetMeasure_total_pop_point_test FROM