Maarten Hooijberg studied Geodetic Engineering at the College of Advanced Technology, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and received his BSc degree in 1959. Since 1959 he has worked as a civil engineer, hydrographer and land surveyor in many countries throughout the world: Switzerland, United Kingdom, the rainforests of South-East Asia and South America, the swamps of West Africa, and the sands of the Arabian Peninsula. In 1970 Hooijberg joined the Royal Dutch Shell Group. From 1974 until 1986, he was the independent head of topographical services at Billiton International Metals in the Northern Hemisphere, and of Shell International Metals in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1986 he was appointed secretary of the office directorate of Shell International Petroleum Maatschappij in The Hague. In 1992 he retired from Royal Dutch Shell. Hooijberg has written many papers in the fields of hydrography and topography. This handbook has evolved through the author's 25 years of experience in advising and writing on geodetic methods.

This book has evolved through the author's 25 years of advising and writing on geodetic methods in which the aspect of learning by doing is stressed, including analyses of quality. Consequently, it covers practical aspects of geometrical geodesy and particulars of fundamental constants, horizontal and vertical datums, geoids, bi-axial ellipsoids and reference systems, units of frequencies and time, conformal projections, similarity transformations and spatial developments in electronic and acoustic positioning frames. The impact of information, communication and parallel computer technology with an ability to store and retrieve huge amounts of data is discussed up to the point where the compilation of relevant data is completely automated using comprehensive analyses on a worldwide distribution network.