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4. According to the classical definition given by F.R. Helmert in 1880, geodesy is the
“science of the measurement and mapping of the Earth’s surface.” This definition
has to this day retained its validity; it includes the determination of the Earth’s
external gravity field as well as the surface of the ocean floor. With this definition,
which has to be extended to include temporal variations of the Earth and its gravity
field, geodesy may be included in the geosciences and also in the engineering
sciences).The objectives of geodesy, generated from and partially supplementing
Helmert’s definition, can be described comprehensively as, first, to determine
accurately the positions of points on the Earth’s surface and their variations and,
second, to study the gravity field of the Earth, the shape and size of the Earth, and
the geodynamic phenomena. The former is generally considered the practical
objective of geodesy and the latter the scientific objective. These two objectives
are closely correlated.
5. The components, movement, and development of the Earth system are observed and revealed by different
branches of geoscience from different aspects using different methods. Geodesy places special emphasis on
the study of the Earth’s geometric (spatial) characteristics and fundamental physical characteristics (the
gravity field) and describes their changes. Plate tectonics was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s
and has led the revolutionary progress of geosciences, which is significant for establishing the scientific view
of “mobilism” in geoscience. The progress of modern geodesy and the introduction of space geodesy are
essential in fostering geoscience development because geodesy enables extensive acquisition of information
about the Earth’s movement and allows the fundamental status of geodesy to be strengthened more
profoundly. Modern geodetic techniques have
6. It can be seen from the principle of leveling that the leveling instrument should be developed to set up a
horizontal line of sight. Therefore, the level should have a telescope capable of creating a line of sight
(collimation axis) and a component that can direct the line of sight to the horizontal direction (a bubble is
one of the simplest kinds). To make the line of sight horizontal and rotate horizontally, foot screws and a
vertical axis are also necessary. Integrating these components as shown in Fig. 2.8 will constitute the
simplest level. These principal components should satisfy the following conditions:
7. Electronic Levels The first electronic level was invented in March 1990 as a brand-new leveling instrument
that integrated electronic technology, encoding, image processing, and computer technologies, and marked
the direction for development of leveling instruments. Today, several corporations throughout the world are
manufacturing electronic leveling instruments such as the DNA03 and DNA10 of Leica Microsystems, DiNi10
and DiNi20 of Carl Zeiss, and DL-101 and DL-102 of Topcon. Different to the optical level, the rod face of the
electronic level is graduated with a bar code and there also is an inbuilt digital image recognition and
processing system. Using digital image processing technology, the image of the bar code can be processed
and compared through a telescope, which enables the naked eye of the observer to be replaced by the array
detectors (sensors). Observations (including clamping and reading) can therefore be completed
automatically. In surveying operations, the leveling instrument needs to be only roughly leveled, the line of
sight is automatically made horizontal by the compensator, the leveling rod is sighted, and the focus is
adjusted. In such a case, by pressing the “measure” button, the reading of the rod and the distance between
the rod and leveling instrument will be displayed on the monitor.
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