The third edition of this well-known textbook, first published in 1980, has been completely revised in order to adequately reflect the drastic changes which occured in the field of geodesy in the last twenty years. Reference systems are now well established by space techniques, which dominate positioning and gravity field determination. Terrestrial techniques still play an important role at local and regional applications, whereby remarkable progress has been made with respect to automatic data aquisition. Evaluation methods are now three-dimensional in principle, and have to take the gravity field into account. Geodetic control networks follow these developments, with far-reaching consequences for geodetic practice. Finally, the increased accuracy of geodetic products and high data rates have significantly increased the contributions of geodesy to geodynamics research, thus strengthening the role of geodesy within the geosciences. The present state of geodesy is illustrated by recent examples of instruments and results. An extensive reference list supports further studies. 

• 1.1 Definition of Geodesy 18
• 1 Introduction 18
• 1.2 The Problem of Geodesy 19
• 1.3 Historical Development of Geodesy 21
• 1.4 Organization of Geodesy, Literature 30
• 2.1 Basic Units and Fundamental Constants 35
• 2 Reference Systems 35
• 2.2 Time Systems 37
• 2.3 International Earth Rotation Service 41
• 2.4 Celestial Reference System 42
• 2.5 Terrestrial Reference System 48
• 2.6 Gravity Field Related Reference Systems 55
• 3 The Gravity Field of the Earth 62
• 3.1 Fundamentals of Gravity Field Theory 62
• 3.2 Geometry of the Gravity Field 74