Baltic Geodetic Commission
The Baltic Geodetic Commission was an international commission and scientific association that was founded in 1924 to align the land surveys of the Baltic Sea countries at the state borders with each other and as a whole. It was of great importance for international earth measurements (see also European date 1950 ), for the development of astrogeodesy and geophysics , but had to stop its work after the Second World War for political reasons.
The commission had only an informal legal character, but consisted of official, leading representatives of geodesy in the individual countries. Their first and largest project was the Baltic Sea - or Baltic Ring , a joint, almost 3,000 km long survey network that connects the Baltic coasts of all nine participating states. It is considered the forerunner of the European network and also fertilized theoretical geodesy .
The Baltic ring network
The Baltic Ring Network is a spin-off from the initiative of the Baltic Geodetic Commission, which took place ten years after the First World War .
Other big projects
Before tackling the Baltic ring, the cooperative dealt intensively with the theoretical basis of such a large-scale survey - in certain competition with the framework networks that were being created across the USA, which were calculated using the Bowie method , and analogous projects for the USSR . Among other things, the best mathematical treatment of the Laplace azimuths and the reduction of the geodetic baselines (which should give the network the exact scale) were researched. An optimal calibration of the measuring equipment was also an important issue and led to the development of the interference comparator - especially by Finnish geodesists who were able to maintain their position of priority in this area even after the war.
The same applies to research and development in the field of gravimetry . For the nine national corner points of the Baltic ring a start was made to create a gravity network, and the relative gravity measurement by astatic gravimeters experienced its first heyday. After 1950 it was supposed to replace the rather complex measurements with the Eötvös' rotary balances, with which applied geophysics now conducts the exploration of underground deposits .
In the field of astronomy and satellite geodesy , essential preliminary work can also be traced back to the cooperation of the - economically not insignificant - Baltic Sea countries. They continued to have an effect well into the 1950s and not least resulted in Väisäläs Stellar triangulation.
literature
- Karl Ledersteger , Astronomical and Physical Geodesy. in: Jordan, Eggert, Kneissl Handbuch der Vermessungskunde Volume V (871 p.), Chapter IV (§ 27 and 25), Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1969.
- VR Ölander, weights of azimuths and coordinates in a schematic triangular chain with Laplace equations. Negotiations of the 9th session of the Baltic Geodetic Commission (July 1936), Finnish Geodetic Institute, Helsinki 1937.