A general term to denote a timescale that incorporates both the traditional elements of the geologic time-scale as it has evolved over the last century and a half, and, as they are agreed, the reference points of an ideal and globally standardized chronostratigraphic scale that is defined by boundary stratotypes. The ideal, globally standardized stratigraphic scale has been termed both the Standard Stratigraphic Scale (SSS), and the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale (SGCS). W. B. Harland (1978) has suggested that, for clarity, the older geologic timescale, which evolved through the designation of type sections (see stratotype) and is gradually being superseded, should be referred to as the Traditional Stratigraphic Scale (TSS). A local stratigraphic scale, from which a standard reference point might be selected later, is termed a Regional Stratigraphic Scale (RSS).