This paper presents the calculation method for the international geomagnetic reference field (IGRF), discusses the significance of correction of the normal magnetic field to ground magnetic surveys, compares accuracies of the IGRF and geomagnetic maps, and discusses the current correction methods for geomagnetic data from ground surveys. The results indicate that the regional correction based on gridded nationwide geomagnetic data can yield much finer result compared to the traditional methods. Therefore, the authors prefer to utilize the gridded nationwide geomagnetic data to make correction for ground geomagnetic data.