geodetic survey

American  

noun

1. a land area survey in which the curvature of the surface of the earth is taken into account.

---

geodetic survey Scientific  

1. A survey of a large area of land in which corrections are made to account for the curvature of the Earth.

---

Etymology

Origin of geodetic survey

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

"The accuracy is so extraordinary that even today it continues to astound. It represents the first geodetic survey in the New World."

From BBC • Sep. 1, 2017

One of these days, when other things are attended to, we must have a geodetic survey, complete maps and plans, and accurate information about the whole topography of this altered continent.

From Darkness and Dawn by England, George Allan

Taking the whole series of them, Mr. Lowell very justly compares them to "a network which triangulates the surface of the planet like a geodetic survey, into polygons of all shapes and sizes."

From Is Mars habitable? A critical examination of Professor Percival Lowell's book "Mars and its canals," with an alternative explanation by Wallace, Alfred Russel

It had twelve bureaus: corporations; manufactures; labor; lighthouses; census; coast and geodetic survey; statistics, including foreign commerce; steamboat inspection; immigration and naturalization; and standards.

From Under Four Administrations From Cleveland to Taft by Straus, Oscar S.