Active Control System

These days we use computers for everything. As a result of access to the Internet from home, work and school, we sometimes have more information at our fingertips than we know what to do with. In today's fast paced society, we want the information yesterday!

Technological developments such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and our "need for speed" have outgrown the use of the present control networks established and maintained by The Geodetic Survey Division of Natural Resources Canada plus provincial and municipal agencies.

These older control networks are still good starting points to position features using a common reference system, but they are not always convenient and are often not "GPS friendly".

Active Control Systems are just like these older control networks, but without the limitations of physical ground monuments. They provides users with an easy way to position features using a common reference system wherever they are, whenever they want without using the ground based control networks. It makes life easier, less expensive and yes - faster.

Existing Control Networks

Control Networks provide us with a tool to relate features to one another using a common reference system. The positions and elevations of the points that make up a control network have been accurately determined and are marked by markers (often called 'monuments') placed permanently in the ground.

The Geodetic Survey Division of Natural Resources Canada, along with various provincial and municipal agencies across Canada, has established and maintains, where and when necessary, the control networks to support a wide variety of activities that require accurate positions and elevations.

The monuments of these control networks are spaced at various intervals depending on how and why they were established. As a result of the methods used to determine the positions and elevations of monuments in older control networks, they may or may not be in convenient places for future use.