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History of the National Geodetic Survey |  |
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The National Geodetic Survey, our Nation's first civilian scientific agency, was established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast. Its mission soon included surveys of the interior as the nation grew westward. In 1878 the agency was reorganized and given a new name, the Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS), which it maintained until 1970.
In 1970 a reorganization created the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Ocean Service (NOS) was created as a line office of NOAA. To acknowledge the geodetic portion of NOAA mission, the part of NOS responsible for geodetic functions was named the National Geodetic Survey.
The NOAA History web site is a treasure
chest of items collected from the archives of NOAA's ancestor agencies,
including a wealth of photos, stories, maps and art which document the evolution
of the National Geodetic Survey:
For information, contact: NGS Information Services Branch
Telephone: 301-713-3242; Fax: 301-713-4172