ABSTRACT
Uruguay is slightly smaller than the state of Washington and is the second-smallest country in South America after Suriname. The initial classical triangulations with Bamburg broken elbow astronomical theodolites and Huetz direction theodolites were performed in the central portion of the republic corresponding to the Durazno and Tacuarembo provinces in 1908. The grid system chosen in 1924 was based on the Polyhedric projection (same as Argentina), and the centesimal angle system of grads. The Bonne projection was considered as too cumbersome for survey computations. The initial reference system was called “Cerro de Montevideo,” and it was considered a reconnaissance-quality system intended mainly for military purposes. Satellite surveying began in 1993 for topographic densification in Uruguay, and in 1995 geodetic-quality GPS receivers were used to participate in the South American Geocentric Reference System project. The software used to initially process the GPS data was that developed by the University of Bern.
