Mountains Get Remeasured in China
"That mountain was a lot taller when I was a kid."
"Yeah, grandpa. And the snow was deeper, and roads longer and your legs shorter, too."
China will employ Global Positioning System (GPS) and other high-tech devices to remeasure 59 of its famous mountains to learn their exact altitude.
These days the measurements differ by as much as 100 meters….which only makes a difference IF you are the one who is climbing the mountain.
China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) is serious this time about getting it right.
Several factors are taken into account in choosing
the order to measure them:
1. fame
2. influence
3. public function
4. bearing on national security
Chinese laws are also forbidding organizations or individuals from issuing important geographical data without SBSM's verification.
And, that includes Grandpa and his silly stories, too!
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