The Transcontinental Traverse (TCT) was a geodetic survey traverse conducted in the continental United States by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey between 1961 and 1970 and the U.S. National Geodetic Survey between 1970 and 1976. It was the most accurate large-area survey ever done prior to Global Positioning System surveys. TCT included over 2,700 survey stations, covered over 13,600 miles (21,900 km), and passed through 44 U.S. states.[1]
This nationwide survey increased the accuracy of the existing U.S. survey network. It was also fundamental to the sophisticated mathematical readjustment of the nation's survey network known as the North American Datum of 1983.[2] It was the "end of an era" as the last conventional, purely terrestrial large scale survey.[3]
- ^ The High-precision Transcontinental Traverse: Improving the Scale of the U.S. Survey Network, NOAA (page "the traverse")
- ^ "The High-precision Transcontinental Traverse: Improving the Scale of the U.S. Survey Network", NOAA Celebrates 200 years (website), U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
- ^ Wilford2001, p. 366.