Helmut W O L F

( Bonn )

GEOMETRIC CONNECTION AND RE-ORIENTATION

OF THREE-DI~ENSIONAL TRIANGULATION NETS

As Brigadier Hotine has stated in his famous publication

" A P r i m e r of N o n - C l a s s i c a l G e o d e s y " (page 41)[1] w e cannot consider
the orientation of either geodetic s y s t e m as error-free, although the
satisfaction of the so-called L a p l a c e a z i m u t h equation at the origin m a y
suggest such a conception. T h e use of that equation will diminish the
orientation e r r o r up to a certain degree, but no c o m p l e t e elimination
of that e r r o r will take place.
This s e e m s to be important in the following situation :
Realizing the ideas of three-dimensional g e o d e s y in a practical view,
w e at first m a y establish Partial-Nets, e.g. of continental extent. Later
on w e have to connect these individual P a r t i a l - N e t s for obtaining a
unified system, at least in a p r e l i m i n a r y sense. So w e are enabled to
bring adjacent s u r v e y s , say D and D , into s y m p a t h y , through the
geodetic coordinates (X, Y, Z), (X, Y, Z) resp. of their c o m m o n points.
A c c o r d i n g to Brig. Hotine' s objection m e n t i o n e d before w e should
consider not only the a m o u n t s of translation (dXo, d Y o, dZo) but also
certain small rotations d~x, day, d ~ z with respect to the X, Y, Z
axis. This especially is expedient if one of the nets considered has
been c o m p u t e d with an a p p r o x i m a t e orientation only, or if the a s t r o n o m i c
observations in D include a systematic e r r o r (of u n k n o w n value ),
c o m p a r e d with those of D.
U s i n g m a t r i x s y m b o l i s m (matrices are underlined) w e denote
the position vectors by
-T
[ X, Y, Z ] = r T and IX, Y, Z ] = r

Each of the " discrepancies " [ X - X, Y - Y, Z - Z ] = ~T _ r T = w T

consists of two c o m p o n e n t s :
a) a systematic one = dr

b) a stochastic one = v,

so that ~v = dr + v = ~- r
Then the whole situation is c o m p a r a b l e with a problem in
Photogrammetry.as known from Prof. Rinner's publication [2]:
Accepting ~ point Po (Xo, Yo, Zo) = ro on the rotation axe, we find
from _~ : _ro + dr + v

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 Helmut WOLF

with the "versor-matrix'[3] A and the scale factor m :

_~ : ro +dr o +m_A (r-r o)+v.

Being small quantities, the m and A may be written as

m : l+dm, A = E+dA_,

(_E = u n i t m a t r i x ) . Because for the scale of a special geodetic system

the same is true as for the orientation, the unknown scale factor
(i + dm) was taken into account. Neglecting the small amount din-dA
we obtain from

= r_o + d r o + (1 + d m ) (E_+_A) (_r - _ t o ) + Z

the following "observation equation", wherein r -r o --hr :

-X = d_ro + dm-A_r +dA. Ar - w-

Written in detail we have [2] :

dr v = [dX o, dYo, dZo], Ar T = [AX, AY, AZI

0 - da z , + day

d& = +da z 0 , -dct x 9 so that

-day + dot x , 0

dAAr = AZ d c t x + A X dot z = -AZ , 0 , + . ely = K d a,

AY dotx AX day] +Ay , - AX , ct Z

wherein
dot T = [dCtx, dory, dot z ]

Regarding all the n common station No. 1,2, ... i ... n we have

K 1 0 , +AZ i , -AY i

K 2 = B, with K i = - AZ i , 0 , +AX i

K n + AY i , - AX i , 0

In the case we chose the coordinates X o , Yo, Z o so that

nX o = ~X, nY o = ~Y, nZo = ~Z

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we can find through the pertaining normals [2]

dr/ = [ d X ~ , d y ~ , d Z o] = l [ E w x 9 EWy , Ew z ]
n
2
dm =E(wx. AX+Wy. AX+Wz. AZ) / ~S

Si 2 = AXi ~ + AYi 2 + AZ i 2 . . (i . = .1 , 2 , . n)

The d a ' s are determined by

da = - N -1 -n

E(AY2 + A Z 2) , - EAX AY - EAXAZ

N =BTB = - E AX AY , E ( A X 2 + A Y 2) - E A Y AZ

- E AX AZ , - E AY AZ E ( h E 2 + A Y 2)

T
n : [ X (WyaZ- w zaY), X(w z aX-w xaZ), X (w xaY-wYAX) ]

In this special form the resulting d_ro, dm, da are "free functions".
The transformed coordinates are

X + dX, Y + dY, Z + dZ resp., or X - v x, Y - vy, Z - v z,

computed with the numerical values of dXo, dYo, dZo, din, da x , day,
d a z . If t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g changes dT, dk, dh are desired, we can
find them from

de = C . d r = C (dro + dm.Ar) + C_C

- dA.Ar,

wherein de T =[(M +h) dT, (N + h) c o s ~ dk , dh ] ;

M, N = ellipsoidal curvatures in the meridian and the prime vertical

resp.
I~ sin T c o s k, sinT sink , - CoS T]
C = sin k, - cos k ,
cost cosk, - cos~ sink, sinai

cf. Brig. Hotine[1], equ. (94,1), (94,2), (94,3).

Written in detail we have

d T (M+h) = sinTcosk(dX ~ + dm.AX) + sinTcosk(dY o + dm.AY) -

- cosT(dZ o + dm.hZ) - da x (AY cosT+AZ sinTsink) +
+ day ( A Z cOST + A Z sinq0 cos k) + da z ( A X sinT sink - A X sinTcosk ),
dk (N+h) cos T = sink(dX o + d m - A X ) - cos k(dY + d m . A Y ) + d= x . A Z cosk-
- d a y . A Z sink- d a z ( A X cos k + A Y sink),

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 Helmut WOLF

dh = - c o s ~ c o s k (dE o + d m . A X ) - cos Sosink(dY o + d m . AY) -

- sin~ (dZ o + d m . A Z ) + d~x (AZ cos~cos k-AY sink) +
+ d~y ( A Z sin~ - A Z cos~ cos k) + d ~ z ( A Y cos ~cos k - A M cos~sink)

Of course the coordinates X, Y, Z are "correlated observatlons" ". In a

stronger sense w e also have to c o m p u t e the cofactors Q x x 9 Q x Y ,
Qxz 9 QYY .... which should be taken into account within the formation
of the normals. [4] - In this w a y the orientation can be recomputed or
improved by aid of the geometric connection of the nets.
Incited by the discussion I should like to add the following
remarks :
i) A s s u m i n g QxY = 0, Q x z = 0, etc.., we obtain the simple "Datum-
Adjustment" ( = " R ~ u m l i c h e Anfelderung") as a special case of the
rigorous simultaneous adjustment.
2) But taking into account these cofactors Q x Y etc.., and neglecting
the da's, the procedure explained above m u s t give, however, just the
s a m e results as a simultaneous re-adjustment of the partial nets D,
. . . . altogether. This can be seen f r o m the theory of the adjustment
of correlated observations.
3) W h e n in such a case the astronomic observations for one of the
partial nets (e. g. for D ) a r e affected by systematic e r r o r s - and we
k n o w that [5] - w e then must include the u n k n o w n dE for D, also in the
simultaneous re-adjustment of all the D, D . . . . - systems.
T h e reason for the justness of such a procedure is given by
the fact that systematic errors within the astronomic observations
(individual for single geodetic partial nets ) are causing systematic
orientation errors which can be catched up only by systematic unknowns
d~ (individual for the single partial nets). This is necessary also in the
rigorous simultaneous re-adjustment mentioned by Brig. Hotine in [I]
page 4 I.
Otherwise the da's would be incorporated within the correc-
tions v, and so no correct least squares solution would result f r o m
such a "re-adjustment".
4) If w e are in doubt whether those systematic orientation errors
are arosen or not, w e nevertheless m a y introduce the da's into the
s i m u l t a n e o u s a d j u s t m e n t . B u t a f t e r w a r d s we h a v e to t e s t t h e IT s i-g n i9f i-c a n c e vl
of t h e i r n u m e r i c a l v a l u e s b y s t a t i s t i c a l m e t h o d s .

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] M. HOTINE : A Primer of Nou-Classical Geodesy. Loudou 1959.

[ 2] K. 19INNE19 : IJber r'~umtiche Drehungen. Ver~fftl. DGK, A 25, Miinehen 1957, S. 27 ft.
[3] M. LAGALLY : Vodes~agea fiber Vektorrechnung. Leipzig 1944, S. 204 ft.
[4] H WOLF : Ausgleichungsreehnung nach der Methode der kleinstea Quadrate. 3.
Lieferung. Hamburg 1961, S. 136 ff.
[5] c.f.V. 19. OLANDE19 : gergleichende Azimutbeobachtungen mit vier Instrumenten.
Vem3fftl. Finuisch. Geod~tt. Inst. N~ 52. Helsiaki 1960.

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