Illustration from JW Zollmann, Complete Guide to Geodesy or Practical Geometry, Hall 1744
In this method of earth measurement, the country is covered with a network of triangles (latin: triangula), which collide at their sides and whose corners are formed by high points such as church towers or distinctive hilltops.
At the beginning of a triangulation, a short distance is measured very precisely, from the ends of which a further point is aimed, which then forms the third corner of the first triangle. From each side of this first triangle now more points can be targeted and thus new triangles are formed.
A number of monuments are still reminiscent of the Gaussian land surveying:
the southern meridian sign in the Friedlander Forst, the Gaußturm on the Hohen Hagen and some observation points secured as monuments .
Thoughts