Acronym for North American Datum of 1927. The primary local horizontal geodetic datum and geographic coordinate system used to map the United States during the middle part of the twentieth century. NAD 1927 is referenced to the Clarke spheroid of 1866 and an origin point at Meades Ranch, Kansas. Features on USGS topographic maps, including the corners of 7.5-minute quadrangle maps, are referenced to NAD27. It is gradually being replaced by the North American Datum of 1983.