The Luzon Datum of 1911 was the base for the first modern survey of the Philippine Islands. The execution of the triangulation of the Philippine Islands extended over almost as long a time as the history of the American occupation in the Philippines. The plan of the government to survey the islands began in March 1900 when a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS) officer was sent to Manila with instructions to prepare a report on the existing cartographic conditions in the Philippines and to obtain all information necessary for the execution of geodetic, hydrographic, and topographic surveys in the country.