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education

geodesy iconWelcome to Geodesy
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Image of two men on a geodetic survey expedition in 1922

Members of a 1922 geodetic survey expedition. Click on the image for larger view.

Geodesy is the science of measuring and monitoring the size and shape of the Earth and the location of points on its surface. NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is responsible for the development and maintenance of a national geodetic data system that is used for navigation, communication systems, and mapping and charting.

In this subject, you will find three sections devoted to learning about geodesy: an online tutorial, an educational roadmap to resources, and formal lesson plans.

The Geodesy Tutorial is an overview of the history, essential elements, and modern methods of geodesy. The tutorial is content rich and easy to understand. It is made up of 10 chapters or pages (plus a reference page) that can be read in sequence by clicking on the arrows at the top or bottom of each chapter page. The tutorial includes many illustrations and interactive graphics to visually enhance the text.

The Roadmap to Resources complements the information in the tutorial. The roadmap directs you to specific geodetic data offered by NOS and NOAA.

The Lesson Plans integrate information presented in the tutorial with data offerings from the roadmap. These lesson plans have been developed for students in grades 9–12 and focus on the importance of geodesy and its practical application, including what a datum is, how a datum of reference points may be used to describe a location, and how geodesy is used to measure movement in the Earth’s crust from seismic activity.


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