LECTURE 9- GEODESY
1.Geodesy
What is geodesy? Who needs it and why? These are some of the questions asked by many
people. Actually, geodesy is nothing new having been around for centuries. It is a
specialized application of several familiar facets of basic mathematical and physical
concepts towards the understanding the shape and size of earth gravity and positioning.
In practice, geodesy uses the principles of mathematics, astronomy and physics, and
applies them within the capabilities of modern engineering and technology. A thorough
study of the science of geodesy is not a simple undertaking. However, it is possible to gain
an understanding of the historical development, a general knowledge of the methods and
techniques of the science, and the way geodesy is being used today.
1.1 The shape and size of the earth
If an ellipse is rotated about its minor axis, it forms an ellipsoid of revolution. The customary ellipsoidal
earth model has its minor axis parallel to the rotational axis of the earth. The size of such an ellipsoid is usually
given by the length of the two semi-axes or by the semi-major axis and the flattening (Figures 9.1 and 9.2).
Figure 9.1 Ellipsoid Figure 9.2 Example Ellipsoids
When the satellite data were analyzed further, it turned out that the nearest point in a
satellite's orbit, the perigee, was always nearer to the earth when the satellite was over the
northern hemisphere than when it was over the southern hemisphere. This indicates an
asymmetry in the earth's shape. It is a little narrower in the north than in the south. Once,
one had thought that the earth was a sphere, and then it seemed to be rather like a
grapefruit. Now we found that it was slightly different from a grapefruit, rather like a pear.
Actually, things are quite complicated. When we talk about a pear-shape or an ellipsoid,
we obviously do not mean the shape produced by the mountains and valleys, the
topography. Since we can measure the elevations of places above sea level (this is what is
recorded on topographic maps), we can discount them and inquire into the shape of what
is left: that is, the sea-level surface itself, as if it were extended from the sea shore into the land areas without
those elevations above it. This sea-level surface is also called the GEOID (Figure 9.3).
Figure 9.3 Geoidal Shape
The shape of the geoid is what we mean by the Figure of the Earth. We have found from many measurements
that the shape of this geoid is very irregular as compared with an ellipsoid, and we describe these
irregularities by the distances from the much smoother ellipsoid. These distances are called GEOIDAL
HEIGHTS.
Thus, we distinguish three surfaces: the topography, the geoid, and the ellipsoid (Figure
9.5). Topographic maps give. the elevations above sea level (the geoid). Geoidal maps give the geoidal heights
in relation to the ellipsoid. Both together give the total height of the topography above the ellipsoid at any
point.
You have now learned the story of our developing knowledge of the size and shape of the earth. The shape of
the earth is partly attributed to the force of gravity. The way we study the gravity field is the subject of the next
topic.
1.2 The gravity field of the earth
The earth's attraction called gravity, causes things to fall. Remember the story about
Newton sitting under an apple tree? When an apple fell and hit him, it started him thinking
of a new theory of gravity. A heavy plumb bob, suspended by a string, is attracted by the
earth and therefore pulls that string into a straight downward (vertical) direction.
Gravity holds the water to the earth and our feet to the ground so we don't fall off into
space. About five-sevenths of the earth's surface is covered by oceans. The level surface
which coincides with mean sea level is called the GEOID. Other similar level surfaces can
be imagined at any elevation, for example, the water surface of mountain lakes. The higher
a level surface is above the geoid, the further removed it is from the irregularities 1n the earth's structure; thus
the warping will be less pronounced.
1.3 Point Positioning
When driving along or hiking in unknown territory, your location can be of vital
importance to you. An answer such as "You are right next to a huge anthill" will not be
very helpful to find your way home, even if it is correct and useful from another aspect.
You need an answer in relation to some known reference such as the nearest town or
highway. You will want to know how far you are from that town; and in what direction
you should turn off from your present path - or from the north direction.
Figure 9.4 Latitude and Longitude
For geodetic systems large enough to be affected by the curvature of the earth, we use an
ellipsoidal earth model and designate on it the position of any point, in terms of latitude,
longitude, and height, with zero starting references for each. LATITUDE refers to a set
of circles parallel to the equator, called parallels, the way you slice a tomato. The
numbering starts at the equator and goes to 90o north and 90o south. LONGITUDE
refers to a set of ellipses (or circles if the earth model is taken as a sphere) called meridians,
the way you divide an orange. Their numbering starts customarily with the meridian
through Greenwich in England and goes either to 360o eastward or to 180o east and 180o
west. The HORIZONTAL POSITION of a point is at the intersection of a parallel and
a meridian and is therefore expressed in terms of latitude and longitude. The complete
position must include a third value, the vertical position. This is the height of the point
above or below the ellipsoid. It must also include the specifications of the ellipsoid itself.
The latter, together with the complete posit10n of a particular point, the datum point, is
called a GEODETIC DATUM.
Figure 9.5 Ellipsoidal and Geoidal Height
The figure above (Figure 9.5) is a meridional section through the earth. The height H of
the point P above the ellipsoid is measured along the normal to the ellipsoid. The point
P' on the ellipsoid itself has a zero height. P and P' have the same horizontal position (
same latitude and longitude), but different vertical positions. The total height H of a point
P above the ellipsoid is not directly observed. Leveling determines one part, the elevation
h above mean sea level, which is also called the GEOID. The other part, the GEOIDAL
HEIGHT N, that is the separation between the geoid and the ellipsoid, must be computed
separately. Failure to compute the geoidal height will make the height coordinate of the
point P incorrect. Theoretically, geoidal heights may vary between +100 meters and -100
meters, but in practice some geodetic systems may have several hundred meters of geoidal
heights in some areas. For example, the old South American Datum had geoida1 heights
of about 300 meters in Chile. Therefore, South America accepted a new continental datum
in 1969, including a new reference ellipsoid, where geoidal heights are less than 50 meters.
In Southeast Asia, the Indian Datum is still used with more than 300 m of geoidal heights,
although better fitting datums have been computed. Geodesy can correct these problems.
Instead of describing the position of a point P in terms of latitude, longitude, and height
as we do in surveying and practical applications in the field, we can also use a Cartesian
coordinate system in x, y, z. The latter is often used within the process of computations,
especially in satellite computations. One coordinate system can be converted into another
by mathematical conversion formulas. But if one is incorrect, for instance, through the
neglect of a large geoidal height, then the other will be incorrect also. Even if the positional
inaccuracy of a specific point may seem tolerable in itself, it may snowball into significant
errors in certain applications.
2. Map Projection
A map projection is a mathematically described technique of how to represent the Earth’s
curved surface on a flat map. To represent parts of the surface of the Earth on a flat paper
map or on a computer screen, the curved horizontal reference surface must be mapped
onto the 2D mapping plane. Mapping onto a 2D mapping plane means transforming each point on the reference
surface with geographic coordinates ( , ) to a set of Cartesian coordinates (x,y) representing positions on
the map plane (Figure 9.6)
Figure 9.6 Map Projection
Most projections can be envisaged as analogous to shining a light through a scaled-down
model of the Earth, known as the reference globe (or generating globe), onto a surface,
referred to as a developable surface, which can be 'rolled out' into a flat plane. Different
types of projection can be defined depending upon the source of the light (e.g. the centre
of the Earth, or a point infinitely far away) and the location and shape of the projection
surface (e.g. cone, cylinder or plane). The projected lines of latitude and longitude form a
graticule. These lines are not necessarily equally spaced, may converge and may be curved,
depending upon the projection (Figure 9.7). A rectangular co-ordinate system, known as
a grid, is often superimposed for the purpose of providing grid references, etc.
Figure 9.7 Lines of Projection
3 Classification of map projections
Map projections can be described in terms of their:
(i). class (cylindrical, conical or azimuthal),
(ii). point of secancy (tangent or secant),
(iii). aspect (normal, transverse or oblique), and
(iv). distortion property (equivalent, equidistant or conformal).
Class
The three classes of map projections are cylindrical, conical and azimuthal. The Earth's
reference surface projected on a map wrapped around the globe as a cylinder produces a
cylindrical map projection. Projected on a map formed into a cone gives a conical map
projection. When projected directly onto the mapping plane it produces an azimuthal (or
zenithal or planar) map projection. The figure below shows the surfaces involved in these
three classes of projections.
Figure 9.8 Class of Projections
Point of secancy
The planar, conical, and cylindrical surfaces in the figure above are all tangent surfaces;
they touch the horizontal reference surface in one point (plane) or along a closed line
(cone and cylinder) only. Another class of projections is obtained if the surfaces are
chosen to be secant to (to intersect with) the horizontal reference surface; illustrations
are in the figure below. Then, the reference surface is intersected along one closed line
(plane) or two closed lines (cone and cylinder). Secant map surfaces are used to reduce
or average scale errors because the line(s) of intersection are not distorted on the map
(section 4.3 scale distortions on a map).
Figure 9.9 Secant projection classes
Aspect
Projections can also be described in terms of the direction of the projection plane's
orientation (whether cylinder, plane or cone) with respect to the globe. This is called the
aspect of a map projection. The three possible aspects are normal, transverse and oblique.
In a normal projection, the main orientation of the projection surface is parallel to the
Earth's axis (as in the figures above for the cylinder and the cone). A transverse projection
has its main orientation perpendicular to the Earth's axis. Oblique projections are all other,
non-parallel and non-perpendicular, cases. The figure below provides two examples.
Figure 9.10 Transverse and oblique map
Distortion
So far, we have not specified how the Earth's reference surface is projected onto the plane, cone or cylinder.
How this is done determines which kind of distortion properties the map will have compared to the original
curved reference surface. The distortion properties of map are typically classified according to what is not
distorted on the map:
In a conformal (orthomorphic) map projection the angles between lines in the map are
identical to the angles between the original lines on the curved reference surface. This
means that angles (with short sides) and shapes (of small areas) are shown correctly on
the map.
In an equal-area (equivalent) map projection the areas in the map are identical to the areas on the curved
reference surface (taking into account the map scale), which means that areas are represented correctly on
the map.
In an equidistant map projection, the length of particular lines in the map are the same as
the length of the original lines on the curved reference surface (taking into account the
map scale).
4. Choosing a map projection
Every map must begin, either consciously or unconsciously, with the choice of a map
projection and its parameters. The cartographer's task is to ensure that the right type of
projection is used for any particular map. A well-chosen map projection takes care that
scale distortions remain within certain limits and that map properties match to the purpose
of the map.
Generally, normal cylindrical projections are typically used to map the world in its entirety
(in particular areas near the equator are shown well). Conical projections are often used
to map the different continents (the mid-latitudes regions are shown well), while the polar
azimuthal projections may be used to map the polar areas. Transverse and oblique aspects
of many projections can be used for most parts of the world, though they are usually more
difficult to construct.
In theory, the selection of a map projection for a particular area can be made on the basis
of:
the shape of the area,
the location (and orientation) of the area, and the purpose of the map.
