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NAD27
The Clarke 1866 ellipsoid was the foundation of NAD27, and the blocks that built that foundation were made by geodetic triangulation. After all, an ellipsoid, even one with a clearly stated orientation to the earth, is only an abstraction until physical, identifiable control stations are available for its practical application. During the tenure of NAD27, control positions were tied together by tens of thousands of miles of triangulation and some traverses. Its measurements grew into chains of figures from Canada to Mexico and coast to coast, with their vertices perpetuated by bronze disks set in stone, concrete, and other permanent media. These tri-stations, also known as brass caps, and their attached coordinates have provided a framework for all types of surveying and mapping projects for many years. They have served to locate international, state, and county boundaries. They have provided geodetic control for the planning of national and local projects, development of natural resources, national defense, and land management. They have enabled surveys to be fitted together, provided checks, and assisted in the perpetuation of their marks. They have supported scientific inquiry, including crustal monitoring studies and other geophysical research. But even as application of the nationwide control network grew, the revelations of local distortions in NAD27 were reaching unacceptable levels. The work was excellent, and given the technology of the day, remarkable but judged by the standards of newer measurement technologies, the quality of some of the observations used in the datum were too low. That, and its lack of an internationally viable geocentric ellipsoid, finally drove its positions to obsolescence. The monuments remain, but it was clear early on that NAD27 had some difficulties. There were problems from too few baselines, Laplace azimuths and other deficiencies. By the early 1970s, the NAD27 coordinates of the national geodetic control network were no longer adequate.
The Development of NAD 83
While a committee of the National Academy of Sciences advocated the need for a new adjustment in its 1971 report, work on the new datum, NAD83, did not really begin until after July 1, 1974. Leading the charge was an old agency with a new name. Called the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey in 1878, and then the Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) from 1899, the agency is now known as the National Geodetic Survey (NGS). It is within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The first ancestor of today’s NGS was established back in 1807 and was known as the Survey of the Coast. Its current authority is contained in U.S. Code, Title 33, USC 883a.
NAD83 includes not only the United States, but also Central America, Canada, Greenland, and Mexico. The NGS and the Geodetic Survey of Canada set about the task of attaching and orienting the GRS80 ellipsoid to the actual surface of the earth, as it was defined by the best positions available at the time. It took more than 10 years to readjust and redefine the horizontal coordinate system of North America into what is now NAD83. More than 1.7 million weighted observations derived from classical surveying techniques throughout the Western Hemisphere were involved in the least-squares adjustment. They were supplemented by approximately 30,000 EDM measured baselines, 5000 astronomic azimuths, and more than 650 Doppler stations positioned by the TRANSIT satellite system. Over 100 Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) vectors were also included. GPS, in its infancy, was not utilized significantly.
GPS was growing up in the early 80’s and some of the agencies involved in its development decided to join forces. NOAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Department of Defense coordinated their efforts. As a result, each agency was assigned specific responsibilities. NGS was charged with the development of specifications for GPS operations, investigation of related technologies, and the use of GPS for modeling crustal motion. It was also authorized to conduct its subsequent geodetic control surveys with GPS. So, despite an initial sparseness of GPS data in the creation of NAD83, the stage was set for a systematic infusion of its positions as the datum matured. GPS, through efforts of several agencies, began to be used more and more. It was clear that it was going to contribute more positions and refinement of the datum as time went on.