Geodesy   
War and GPS     
The war ends; mapping work begins  

   By May 8, the day Germany surrendered, the team had shipped 35 truckloads of maps, data and instruments to Bamberg within the American zone. By June 1, they had moved 250 tons of captured material.

   Data shipped to Washington included coverage of Europe, Russia and areas of North Africa and the Middle East. It also included some 10,000 maps.

   Instruments captured in Saalfeld, made by Zeiss, a German optics firm, were valued at $500,000 ($7 million today).

   Then Maj. Hough gave his team the day off, their first in nearly four months. 

Behind THE LINES, Smithsonian 

   With German help in number-crunching, the integration of survey data began. Soon, more data was discovered in salt mines, castles and even buried amid human bones in a monastery. (Must have been important!) 

   The European Datum was completed in 1951. It in turn became part of the foundation for a new global coordinate system, and played a role in developing the Army's guided missile systems. 

   It also proved useful for civilian operations, economic development projects, ecological research, oil prospecting...and GPS, which you might use to locate your restaurant.

   Enjoy your dinner. 

         Jimmy