odyssey of geodesy

Professor Chris Rizos is passionate about promoting what he refers to as ‘modern geodesy’ and
raising its profile on the global stage. Having provided over 20 years of unstinting service to
some of the most prom- inent international geodetic organisations, Professor Rizos is perfectly
placed to take us on a brief odyssey into modern geodesy:

What is modern geodesy?

Geodesy has traditionally been interested in working out the size and shape of the Earth, the
rotation of the Earth in space and understanding the Earth’s gravity field – all important applied
science topics. With the emergence of the Space Age, however, we now have technologies that
do these tasks at a level of accuracy far beyond what we need for surveying, so what started as
an applied science related to surveying has now morphed into something much more: I call this
modern geodesy.

Why is modern geodesy important?

Modern geodesy can be considered an Earth observa- tion science. We can now measure not
only coordinates, gravity and length-of-day, but we can also measure the variations with time of
these (and many other quanti- ties) so we now have to think in four dimensions. For example,
anything that’s related to a distortion in the shape of the Earth or a change in its gravity field can
now be measured using geodetic techniques. GPS is our primary geodetic tool, but there are
other satellite technologies as well.

As a service science, geodesy sits behind the other more visible sciences, providing tools and
datasets that help geoscientists monitor global change (including natural and climate change),
changes in the environ- ment (to ice sheets and atmosphere etc) and geohaz- ards (i.e. volcanos
and earthquakes). The engineering side benefits too, but we apply the measurements and
technologies in a more pragmatic way. Surveyors and civil engineers use modern geodesy on
everything from small-scale building work to international mapping projects.

What kind of impact has UNSW had on the global geodesy world?

Considerable! Our impact has largely been through leadership roles in international and national
associ- ations going right back to the 1960s. Professor Peter Angus-Leppan, a former Head of
the School of Survey- ing here at UNSW, was the first president of the Inter- national Association
of Geodesy (IAG). I am the second president of the IAG with a UNSW connection. We’ve also
had staff hold leadership positions on the Interna- tional Society for Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing; the International GNSS Service; Multi-GNSS Asia; and many others.

How has international service enriched your career?

Working in international service goes well beyond the traditional academic profile – which tends
to focus on publishing papers, raising grant income, and the like. It’s given me a lot of pleasure
because I’ve been able to look at, and even influence, the ‘big picture’. It’s very satisfying to be
part of the evolution of geodesy, not just in the theoretical sense, but actually seeing cool space
technology being incorporated into real measurement systems which have considerable global
impact.