Wednesday: 16:00-17:30

Rocco Malservisi: e-mail malservisi@geophysik.uni-muenchen.de

phone 21804202

Class Web page: www.geophysik.lmu.de/~malservisi/TectGPS.html

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 From Greek: “ DIVIDING THE EARTH ”`

“Geodesy is the branch of applied

mathematics concerned with the
determination of the size and shape of
the Earth, with the exact positions of
points on its surface, and with the
description of variations of its gravity
field.” International Association of Geodesy definition
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
 How big is the Where am I?
Earth?

Which is the shape How far am I from a place?

of the planet?
In which direction
How tall is a should I go?
mountain?

Where my property ends? How big is my property?

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 If we want to have a mathematical representation of a
point (point’s coordinate) we need to have a reference
surface we can refer to.

Knowing the shape of the Earth we can define this

surface.

The gravity field gives the best representation of the

shape of the Earth.

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 The Earth is “almost” a sphere with a circumference ~40000 km long
The meter was defined using this length.

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 Eratosthenes (215 BC)
S=4400 stadia ~787km
C=39376km

R~ 6267 km

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 XVII XVIII Century Discussion of Oblate-Prolate spheroid

Cassini meridian south of France shorter than in Paris

PROLATE
British Pendulum slower at equator and Newton equations
OBLATE
XVIII Century (1730) Expedition of France Academy:
Peru measurement: 6376.45 km (Equatorial Radius)
Lapland measurement: 6355.88 km (Polar Radius)
OBLATE!!
Difference: 1350m in 111km!!!
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
 The Earth is “almost” a sphere with a circumference ~40000 km long
The meter was defined using this length.

Better approximate by an oblate ellipsoid

Today accepted Value
Equatorial Radius 6378 km
Polar Radius 6357 km
Sphere of Equal Volume Radius 6371 km
Flattening 1/298.257223563

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 The “real” shape of the planet is approximated by the Geoid:
THE EQUIPOTENTIAL SURFACE
AT THE MEAN SEA LEVEL

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 We can divide geodesy
According to method
Space Geodesy OR
use of extra-terrestrial
object as observable.
Terrestrial Geodesy
Use of terrestrial tools
And observable
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
According to what
we observe
Global Geodesy
Determination of shape of
the Earth, global references.
Geodetic Survey
Determination of positions,
and references over a region
for which the Earth’s curva-
ture can have influences.
Plane Survey
Determination of positions
and references on a local
level.
 TRADITIONAL SURVEY

Horizontal positioning Vertical positioning

TRIANGULATION GEODETIC LEVELING

TRILATERATION
TRIGONOMETRIC
HEIGHTING
TRAVERSING

BAROMETRIC
ASTRONOMICAL
LEVELING
POSITIONING

TILTING

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 TRADITIONAL SURVEY

Horizontal positioning

TRIANGULATION

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 TRADITIONAL SURVEY

Horizontal positioning

TRILATERATION

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 TRADITIONAL SURVEY

Horizontal positioning

TRAVERSE

EDM

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 TRADITIONAL SURVEY

Vertical positioning

GEODETIC LEVELING

TRIGONOMETRIC
HEIGHTING

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 SPACE SURVEY

VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry

SLR Satellite Laser Ranging

GPS Global Positioning System

Glonass
Galileo

DORIS

InSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 Very Long Baseline
Interferometry
VLBI is a geometric technique:
• It measures the time difference
between the arrival at two
Earth-based antennas of a radio
wavefront emitted by a distant
quasar.
• Using large numbers of time
difference measurements from
many quasars observed with a
global network of antennas,
VLBI determines the inertial
reference frame defined by the
quasars and simultaneously the
precise positions of the
antennas.
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
 SLR
Satellite Laser Ranging

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 The Global Positioning System
• The Global Positioning System (GPS) is
a satellite-based navigation system.
• GPS was originally intended for military applications, but
in the 1980s, the government made the system available
for civilian use.
• GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the
world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or
setup charges to use GPS
• Some civilian uses:
– Navigation on land, sea, air
and space
– Geophysics research
– Guidance systems
– Geodetic network densification
– Hydrographic surveys
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
 Glonass
GLObal NAvigation Satellite System
Glonass is a Soviet space-based navigation system comparable
to the American GPS system.

The operational system contains 21 satellites in 3 orbital planes,

with 3 on-orbit spares.

Glonass provides 100 meters accuracy with its C/A

(deliberately degraded) signals and 10-20 meter accuracy with
its P (military) signals.
Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006
 DORIS

Doppler Orbitography and

Radio positioning Integrated by
Satellite

Precise orbit determination and

location system using Doppler
shift measurement techniques.
A global network of 52 Doris
orbitography beacons has been
deployed. Doris was developed
by Cnes, the French space
agency, and is operated by CLS.

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

 InSAR
• Two or more data acquisition
of the same area from nearby
location (< 1000 m)
• Enables detection of surface
changes within cm level
accuracy

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006

Lecture 1 May 3rd 2006