List: Geodesy

by likeorhate

•  Global Positioning System

  The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space-based global navigation satellite system. It provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth which has an unobstructed view of four or more GPS satellites. GPS is made up of three segments: Space, Control and User.

  

  35.3%
  

  23.5%
  

  41.2%
  
•  Geodesy

  Geodesy, also called geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal motion, tides, and polar motion. For this they design global and national control networks, using space and terrestrial techniques while relying on datums and coordinate systems.

  

  18.8%
  

  31.3%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Map

  A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes. Many maps are static two-dimensional, geometrically accurate (or approximately accurate) representations of three-dimensional space, while others are dynamic or interactive, even three-dimensional. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or imagined, without regard to context or scale; e.g.

  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Navigation

  Navigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. The word navigate is derived from the Latin "navigate", which is the command "sail". All navigational techniques involve locating the navigator's position compared to known locations or patterns.

  

  37.5%
  

  25.0%
  

  37.5%
  
•  Tidal acceleration

  Tidal acceleration is an effect of the tidal forces between an orbiting natural satellite (e.g. the Moon), and the primary planet that it orbits (e.g. the Earth). The "acceleration" is usually negative, as it causes a gradual slowing and recession of a satellite in a prograde orbit away from the primary, and a corresponding slowdown of the primary's rotation. The process eventually leads to tidal locking of first the smaller, and later the larger body.

  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Tide

  Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun. The tides occur with a period of approximately 12 and a half hours and are influenced by the shape of the near-shore bottom. Most coastal areas experience two daily high (and two low) tides.

  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Prime Meridian

  The Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°. The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian (at 180° longitude), which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

  

  20.0%
  

  40.0%
  

  40.0%
  
•  Surveying

  Surveying or land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the surface of the Earth, and they are often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes. In order to accomplish their objective, surveyors use elements of geometry, engineering, trigonometry, mathematics, physics, and law.

  

  25.0%
  

  25.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Datum (geodesy)

  A geodetic datum (plural datums, not data) is a reference from which measurements are made. In surveying and geodesy, a datum is a set of reference points on the Earth's surface against which position measurements are made, and (often) an associated model of the shape of the earth to define a geographic coordinate system. Horizontal datums are used for describing a point on the earth's surface, in latitude and longitude or another coordinate system. Vertical datums measure elevations or depths.

  

  28.6%
  

  42.9%
  

  28.6%
  
•  Frame of reference

  A frame of reference in physics, may refer to a coordinate system or set of axes within which to measure the position, orientation, and other properties of objects in it, or it may refer to an observational reference frame tied to the state of motion of an observer. It may also refer to both an observational reference frame and an attached coordinate system, as a unit.

  

  25.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  25.0%
  
•  Estuary

  An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and ocean environments and are subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of fresh water and sediment.

  

  0.0%
  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service

  The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), formerly the International Earth Rotation Service, is the body responsible for maintaining global time and reference frame standards, notably through its Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) and International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) groups.

  

  66.7%
  

  33.3%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Equatorial bulge

  An equatorial bulge is a bulge which a planet may have around its equator, distorting it into an oblate spheroid. The Earth has an equatorial bulge of 42.72 km (26.5 miles) due to its rotation: its diameter measured across the equatorial plane (12756.28 km, 7,927 miles) is 42.72 km more than that measured between the poles (12713.56 km, 7,900 miles).

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Gravitational field

  A gravitational field is a model used within physics to explain how gravity exists in the universe. In its original concept, gravity was a force between point masses. Following Newton, Laplace attempted to model gravity as some kind of radiation field or fluid, and since the 19th century explanations for gravity have usually been sought in terms of a field model, rather than a point attraction.

  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Physical geodesy

  Physical geodesy is the study of the physical properties of the gravity field of the Earth, the geopotential, with a view to their application in geodesy.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  100.0%
  
•  Very Long Baseline Interferometry

  Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. It allows observations of an object that are made simultaneously by many telescopes to be combined, emulating a telescope with a size equal to the maximum separation between the telescopes. Data received at each antenna in the array is paired with timing information, usually from a local atomic clock, and then stored for later analysis on magnetic tape or hard disk.

  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Chandler wobble

  The Chandler wobble is a small motion in the Earth's axis of rotation relative to the Earth's surface, which was discovered by American astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler in 1891. It amounts to 20 feet (9 meters) on the Earth's surface and has a period of 433 days. This wobble combines with another wobble with a period of one year so that the total polar motion varies with a period of about 7 years.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  World Geodetic System

  The World Geodetic System is a standard for use in cartography, geodesy, and navigation. It comprises a standard coordinate frame for the Earth, a standard spheroidal reference surface (the datum or reference ellipsoid) for raw altitude data, and a gravitational equipotential surface that defines the nominal sea level. The latest revision is WGS 84 (dating from 1984 and last revised in 2004), which will be valid up to about 2010. Earlier schemes included WGS 72, WGS 66, and WGS 60.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  History of geodesy

  See also the main article on Geodesy. Humanity has always been interested in the Earth. During very early times this interest was limited, naturally, to the immediate vicinity of home and residency, and the fact that we live on a near spherical globe may or may not have been apparent. As humanity developed, so did its interest in understanding and mapping the size, shape, and composition of the Earth.

  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Figure of the Earth

  The expression figure of the Earth has various meanings in geodesy according to the way it is used and the precision with which the Earth's size and shape is to be defined. The actual topographic surface is most apparent with its variety of land forms and water areas. This is, in fact, the surface on which actual Earth measurements are made.

  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Theodolite

  A theodolite is an instrument for measuring both horizontal and vertical angles, as used in triangulation networks. It is a key tool in surveying and engineering work, particularly on inaccessible ground, but theodolites have been adapted for other specialized purposes in fields like meteorology and rocket launch technology. A modern theodolite consists of a movable telescope mounted within two perpendicular axes—the horizontal or trunnion axis, and the vertical axis.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Spirit level

  A spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is level or plumb. Different types of spirit levels are used by carpenters, stone masons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and serious videographers. Original spirit levels had two banana-shaped curved glass vials at each viewing point and were much more complicated to use.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Geographical pole

  A geographical pole (also geographic pole) is either of the two points—the north pole and the south pole—on the surface of a rotating planet (or other rotating body) where the axis of rotation (or simply "axis") meets the surface of the body. The north geographic pole of a body lies 90 degrees north of the equator, while the south geographic pole lies 90 degrees south of the equator.

  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Photogrammetry

  Photogrammetry the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from photographic images. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography and can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century. In the simplest example, the distance between two points that lie on a plane parallel to the photographic image plane can be determined by measuring their distance on the image, if the scale s of the image is known. This is done by multiplying the measured distance by 1/s.

  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Reference ellipsoid

  In geodesy, a reference ellipsoid is a mathematically-defined surface that approximates the geoid, the truer figure of the Earth, or other planetary body. Because of their relative simplicity, reference ellipsoids are used as a preferred surface on which geodetic network computations are performed and point coordinates such as latitude, longitude, and elevation are defined.

  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%