A 

geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference

system, or geodetic reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for precisely
representing the position of locations on Earth or other planetary bodies by means of geodetic
coordinates.[1] Datums[note 1] are crucial to any technology or technique based on spatial location,
including geodesy, navigation, surveying, geographic information systems, remote sensing,
and cartography. A horizontal datum is used to measure a location across the Earth's surface,
in latitude and longitude or another coordinate system; a vertical datum is used to measure the
elevation or depth relative to a standard origin, such as mean sea level (MSL). Since the rise of
the global positioning system (GPS), the ellipsoid and datum WGS 84 it uses has supplanted most
others in many applications. The WGS 84 is intended for global use, unlike most earlier datums.

Before GPS, there was no precise way to measure the position of a location that was far from
universal reference points, such as from the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory for
longitude, from the Equator for latitude, or from the nearest coast for sea level. Astronomical and
chronological methods have limited precision and accuracy, especially over long distances. Even
GPS requires a predefined framework on which to base its measurements, so WGS 84 essentially
functions as a datum, even though it is different in some particulars from a traditional standard
horizontal or vertical datum.
A standard datum specification (whether horizontal or vertical) consists of several parts: a model for
Earth's shape and dimensions, such as a reference ellipsoid or a geoid; an origin at which the
ellipsoid/geoid is tied to a known (often monumented) location on or inside Earth (not necessarily at
0 latitude 0 longitude); and multiple control points that have been precisely measured from the origin
and monumented. Then the coordinates of other places are measured from the nearest control point
through surveying. Because the ellipsoid or geoid differs between datums, along with their origins
and orientation in space, the relationship between coordinates referred to one datum and
coordinates referred to another datum is undefined and can only be approximated. Using local
datums, the disparity on the ground between a point having the same horizontal coordinates in two
different datums could reach kilometers if the point is far from the origin of one or both datums. This
phenomenon is called datum shift.
Because Earth is an imperfect ellipsoid, local datums can give a more accurate representation of
some specific area of coverage than WGS 84 can. OSGB36, for example, is a better approximation
to the geoid covering the British Isles than the global WGS 84 ellipsoid.[2] However, as the benefits of
a global system outweigh the greater accuracy, the global WGS 84 datum has become widely
adopted.[3]
The spherical nature of Earth was known by the ancient Greeks, who also developed the concepts
of latitude and longitude, and the first astronomical methods for measuring them. These methods,
preserved and further developed by Muslim and Indian astronomers, were sufficient for the global
explorations of the 15th and 16th Centuries.
However, the scientific advances of the Age of Enlightenment brought a recognition of errors in
these measurements, and a demand for greater precision. This led to technological innovations such
as the 1735 Marine chronometer by John Harrison, but also to a reconsideration of the underlying
assumptions about the shape of Earth itself. Isaac Newton postulated that the conservation of
momentum should make Earth oblate (wider at the equator), while the early surveys of Jacques
Cassini (1720) led him to believe Earth was prolate (wider at the poles). The subsequent French
geodesic missions (1735-1739) to Lapland and Peru corroborated Newton, but also discovered
variations in gravity that would eventually lead to the geoid model.
A contemporary development was the use of the trigonometric survey to accurately measure
distance and location over great distances. Starting with the surveys of Jacques Cassini (1718) and
the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), by the end of the 18th Century, survey control networks
covered France and the United Kingdom. More ambitious undertakings such as the Struve Geodetic
Arc across Eastern Europe (1816-1855) and the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (1802-1871)
took much longer, but resulted in more accurate estimations of the shape of the Earth ellipsoid. The
first triangulation across the United States was not completed until 1899.
The U.S. survey resulted in the North American Datum (horizontal) of 1927 (NAD27) and the Vertical
Datum of 1929 (NAVD29), the first standard datums available for public use. This was followed by
the release of national and regional datums over the next several decades. Improving
measurements, including the use of early satellites, enabled more accurate datums in the later 20th
Century, such as NAD83 in North America, ETRS89 in Europe, and GDA94 in Australia. At this time
global datums were also first developed for use in satellite navigation systems, especially the World
Geodetic System (WGS 84) used in the U.S. global positioning system (GPS), and the International
Terrestrial Reference System and Frame (ITRF) used in the European Galileo system.