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Home , Struve Geodetic Arc

The Land Board is a national representative of Republic of in the Struve Geodetic Arc Coordinating Committee

Tartu Observatory (Photo A. Tennus) The Land Board is a national competency centre in land related issues and the biggest producer, manager and distributor of spatial data in Estonia

Additional information :

Estonian Land Board Mustamäe tee 51, 10621 Simuna endpoint of Võivere endpoint Tel: +372 665 0600 Simuna-Võivere baseline of Simuna-Võivere Faks: +372 665 0604 baseline Struve Geodetic Arc points on the e-post: [email protected] UNESCO’s World heritage List: www.maaamet.ee 4 geoportaal.maaamet.ee 4 inspire.maaamet.ee 6 xgis.maaamet.ee Russian Federation 2 National Mapping Organisations and National Estonia 3 heritage Agencies of ten countries through 2 which Struve Geodetic Arc passes Struve 3 5 Sign for meridian Information board for 1 Geodetic Arc arc point meridian arc point 4 Inscription of the Struve Geodetic Arc on the World heritage List Fields of Activity of the Land Board Struve Geodetic Arc The Struve Geodetic Arc was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in July 2005 as an outstanding example Land Reform Measurement of meridian arc of a scientific and technical achievement. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points: 4 in Norway, 4 in Land reform was initiated in 1991 with the adoption of the The Struve Geodetic Arc is the first accurate Sweden, 6 in Finland, 2 in , 3 in Estonia, 2 in Latvia, 3 in Lithuania, 5 in Belarus, 1 in Moldova, 4 in Ukraine. Land Reform Act. Land reform is implemented by local measurement of a long segment of a meridian, which governments and county governments. The Land Board The aim of meridian arc measurements is to helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet In Estonia there are three points of the Struve Geodetic Arc included in the World Heritage List: Observatory provides advice and training to the executors of land reform determine a length corresponding to one degree of and was carried out between 1816 and 1855 under the and thr endpoints of Simuna-Võivere baseline. and controls their work, and it participates in drafting of meridian arc in order to calculate the size and shape guidance of the professor of astronomy and of relevant legislation. of the Earth. In the course of measurements the the Tartu Universtity Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve. Points in Estonia that are included in UNESCO’s World heritage List Land Cadastre astronomical coordinates of end points as well as the These were the most extensive measurements in the 19 th The Land Cadastre is a dataset, which contains data on length of arc are determined. century resulting in a meridian arc with the length of 2822 Endpoints of Simuna – cadastral parcels and restrictions on the use of parcels as km corresponding to 25 °20’ while the accuracy of Võivere baseline well as data on boundaries of administrative and settlement Erastothenes (c.276-194 BC) used arc measurements was ± 12 m. Tartu Observatory units. The Land Board is the cadastral registrar. For the measurements for the calculation of the The baseline Simuna-Võivere was situated in the maintenance of cadastre e-Cadastre software is used. circumference of the Earth. It was presumed that the The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey fields of Avanduse and Võivere estates. The Management and Planning of State Land length of 1 degree of latitude should have been the triangulations stretching down the 26 °E line of longitude The Tartu Observatory was founded in 1810 and height difference between the endpoints of the Under the administration of the Ministry of the Environment same at the pole and at the equator. Isaac Newton’s from on the Artic Ocean to Ismail on the this point served as the origin for all Struve’s baseline was 6,3 m and the length of baseline 4,5 there are over 1.5 million ha of land (88% of the state land), (1643-1727) law of universal gravitation helped to . The original arc consisted of 258 main observations relating to the Arc. Struve used a km. of which the Land Board manages more than 120 000 ha. prove that the earth was somewhat flattened in the triangles with 265 main station points. point under the centre of the observatory’s cupola, The baseline’s endpoint in Simuna is marked with The Land Board also sells and authorizes the use of state direction of its axis of rotation and thus the length of which has not been preserved. During the a 1.90 m high granite monument in which the year land by means of public auctions. 1 degree of latitude was different at the pole and at The measurement results of the Struve Arc were used by restoration of the Tartu Observatory also the point of establishment 1849 is engraved. Land Valuation and Real Estate Market the equator. the German scientists F.W.Bessel for the determination of was restored and monumented in 2002 with a 12 The baseline’s endpoint in Võivere was Land valuation is a process for conclusion of the value of new ellipsoid parameters and by C.F.Gauss for the mm bronze marker and surrounding inscription considered destroyed, but in 2001 it was found land for the purposes of land taxation, transactions, The determination of the shape and size of the Earth specification of cartographic projections. bedded in the floor. Struve’s sketches and during the GPS measurements. The monument investments, payment of compensation for land, and for land served as inspiration to the astronomer observation data were used for that purpose. consists of a limestone foundation of 204 ×204 cm management, including planning processes. The Land Board F.G.W.Struve in the planning and performing of the Today the points of Struve Arc are situated on the on which there is a large round granite stone with maintains the Estonian Transactions Database, provides meridian arc measurements. territories of 10 countries. In Estonia, F.G.W.Struve a drill hole for marker. In 2011 the Võivere information about the real estate market, and manages the measured altogether 22 points of which 3 are still endpoint was marked with a glass pyramid. map of land quality and valuation. preserved. Production, Management and Distribution of Spatial Data and Provision of Spatial Data Services Spatial data refer to a specific location or geographic area by representing the location, attributes and shape of features in a geographic space. As a rule, spatial data are presented as a map, or on the map. The Land Board coordinates and develops the spatial data infrastructure, the core components of which are geodetic and address data systems and the Estonian Topographic Database; provides the society with up-to-date and high-quality spatial data and maps; participates in the establishment of the European spatial data infrastructure (INSPIRE). Sketch of the point in Instrument for baseline measurement constructed by Struve geodetic point in Different thematic maps and other spatial data services are Friedrich Georg Carl Friedrich Tartu Observatory Struve Tartu Observatory Võivere-Simuna Simuna endpoint of freely available to everyone through the Land Board’s Wilhelm Struve Tenner (Katko) baseline Võivere-Simuna baseline geoportal (geoportaal.maaamet.ee). (1793 – 1864) (1783 – 1859)