If you were ever bitten by the Geocaching-bug but wanting to explore something new, look no further than this large-scale European scavenger hunt.
Today, it takes a GPS satellite 12 hours to orbit the earth and submit measurements on the planet’s constantly changing topography, but when German-born scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve set out to produce the most accurate measurement of the earth’s surface in 1816, the job was a bit more “hands-on.” Struve and his team of scientists from various countries spent 39 years out in some of Eastern Europe’s most beautiful and remote landscapes, triangulating measurements along a long stretch of meridian from Norway to the Black Sea.
The project became known as the Struve Geodetic Arc, consisting of 265 marked points (some are simply holes drilled into rocks, while others are marked by small iron crosses) that span 10 countries and more than 2,820 kilometers. The arc was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, and now 34 of the most important plots have been marked with commemorative plaques.
Traversing the arc today requires a GPS and a strong sense of adventure, as many of these minuscule markers are located “off-the-grid”… despite actually being the grid.
