A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference system, or geodetic reference frame, or terrestrial reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for unambiguously representing the position of locations on Earth by means of either geodetic coordinates (and related vertical coordinates) or geocentric coordinates. Datums are crucial to any technology or technique based on spatial location, including geodesy, navigation, surveying, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and cartography. A horizontal datum is used to measure a horizontal position, across the Earth's surface, in latitude and longitude or another related coordinate system. A vertical datum is used to measure the elevation or depth relative to a standard origin, such as mean sea level (MSL). A three-dimensional datum enables the expression of both horizontal and vertical position components in a unified form. The concept can be generalized for other celestial bodies as in planetary datums.

Since the rise of the global positioning system (GPS), the ellipsoid and datum WGS 84 it uses has supplanted most others in many applications. The WGS 84 is intended for global use, unlike most earlier datums. Before GPS, there was no precise way to measure the position of a location that was far from reference points used in the realization of local datums, such as from the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory for longitude, from the Equator for latitude, or from the nearest coast for sea level. Astronomical and chronological methods have limited precision and accuracy, especially over long distances. Even GPS requires a predefined framework on which to base its measurements, so WGS 84 essentially functions as a datum, even though it is different in some particulars from a traditional standard horizontal or vertical datum.

A standard datum specification (whether horizontal, vertical, or 3D) consists of several parts: a model for Earth's shape and dimensions, such as a reference ellipsoid or a geoid; an origin at which the ellipsoid/geoid is tied to a known (often monumented) location on or inside Earth (not necessarily at 0 latitude 0 longitude); and multiple control points or reference points that have been precisely measured from the origin and physically monumented. Then the coordinates of other places are measured from the nearest control point through surveying. Because the ellipsoid or geoid differs between datums, along with their origins and orientation in space, the relationship between coordinates referred to one datum and coordinates referred to another datum is undefined and can only be approximated. Using local datums, the disparity on the ground between a point having the same horizontal coordinates in two different datums could reach kilometers if the point is far from the origin of one or both datums. This phenomenon is called datum shift or, more generally, datum transformation, as it may involve rotation and scaling, in addition to displacement.

Because Earth is an imperfect ellipsoid, local datums can give a more accurate representation of some specific area of coverage than WGS 84 can. OSGB36, for example, is a better approximation to the geoid covering the British Isles than the global WGS 84 ellipsoid. However, as the benefits of a global system often outweigh the greater accuracy, the global WGS 84 datum has become widely adopted.

The spherical nature of Earth was known by the ancient Greeks, who also developed the concepts of latitude and longitude, and the first astronomical methods for measuring them. These methods, preserved and further developed by Muslim and Indian astronomers, were sufficient for the global explorations of the 15th and 16th Centuries.

However, the scientific advances of the Age of Enlightenment brought a recognition of errors in these measurements, and a demand for greater precision. This led to technological innovations such as the 1735 Marine chronometer by John Harrison, but also to a reconsideration of the underlying assumptions about the shape of Earth itself. Isaac Newton postulated that the conservation of momentum should make Earth oblate (wider at the equator than the corresponding sphere), while the early surveys of Jacques Cassini (1720) led him to believe Earth was prolate (narrower at the equator). The subsequent French geodesic missions (1735-1739) to Lapland and Peru corroborated Newton, but also discovered variations in gravity that would eventually lead to the geoid model.

A contemporary development was the use of the trigonometric survey to accurately measure distance and location over great distances. Starting with the surveys of Jacques Cassini (1718) and the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), by the end of the 18th century, survey control networks covered France and the United Kingdom. More ambitious undertakings such as the Struve Geodetic Arc across Eastern Europe (1816-1855) and the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (1802-1871) took much longer, but resulted in more accurate estimations of the shape of the Earth ellipsoid. The first triangulation across the United States was not completed until 1899.

The U.S. survey resulted in the North American Datum (horizontal) of 1927 (NAD 27) and the Vertical Datum of 1929 (NAVD29), the first standard datums available for public use. This was followed by the release of national and regional datums over the next several decades. Improving measurements, including the use of early satellites, enabled more accurate datums in the later 20th century, such as NAD 83 in North America, ETRS89 in Europe, and GDA94 in Australia. At this time global datums were also first developed for use in satellite navigation systems, especially the World Geodetic System (WGS 84) used in the U.S. global positioning system (GPS), and the International Terrestrial Reference System and Frame (ITRF) used in the European Galileo system.