KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
B. Sc. (Geomatic Engineering) First Semester Examination, 2016
Third Year

November, 2016 GE 353 GEOMETRICAL GEODESY Three (3) Hours

Answer Question 1 and any other two (2) questions

Question 1: [ 50 Marks]
The geodetic coordinates of two survey stations P and T on the War Office ellipsoid are given
as follows:
Station Latitude (  ) Longitude (  )

P 6 35 35 N 1 30 31 W

T 7 48 25 N 1 52 25 W
The two stations were projected onto Ghana’s Transverse Mercator Grid System with the
following projection parameters:

Ellipsoid: Semi-major axis a = 6378300.00 m

Inverse flattening 1 f =296
Latitude of natural origin 0 4º 40' 00'' N

Longitude of natural origin 0 1º 00' 00'' W

Scale factor at natural origin k0 0.99975

False easting FE 274,319.736 m

False northing FN 0m

Compute:
(i) the ellipsoidal distance between stations P and T;
(ii) the direct and inverse azimuths of line PT;
(iii) the northing and easting coordinates of stations P and T on the Ghana National Grid
System;
(iv) the grid distance between stations P and T; and
(v) the scale factor of line PT.

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Question 2: [ 25 Marks]

(a) Prove that the first eccentricity (e) of an ellipsoid is related to its second eccentricity ( e ) by

e2
e 
2

1  e2

(b) A normal passing through a survey station P on an ellipsoid makes an angle of 8º 30' 20''
with the equatorial plane of the ellipsoid. Given that the semi-major axis and inverse
flattening of the ellipsoid are 6,378,300.0 m and 296 respectively, compute:

(i) the first eccentricity of the ellipsoid;

(ii) the reduced latitude of station P;

(iii) the geocentric latitude of station P; and

(iv) the radius of curvature of a normal section inclined at an azimuth of 12º to the plane
of the meridian passing through P.

Question 3: [ 25 Marks]
(a) The geodetic coordinates of a survey station M with respect to War Office Ellipsoid with semi-
major axis and inverse flattening values of 6,378,300 m and 296.0 respectively are Latitude
(  ) = 7º 30' 20'' N, Longitude (  ) = 01º 30' 30'' W, and Height (h) = 800 m. Compute the:

(i) distance from the centre of the ellipsoid to the point on the minor axis where the
normal passing through the survey station intercepts the minor axis; and

(ii) Cartesian coordinates of station M.

(b) The Easting and Northing coordinates of a survey station M in the Universal Transverse
Mercator Grid System are to be converted to their equivalent values in the Ghana National
Grid System through datum transformation. Itemize the various steps you would use in
carrying out the task.

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Question 4: [ 25 Marks]
(a) Define the term Scale Error (or Scale Distortion) as used in map projections.

(b) Ghana’s Transverse Mercator Grid System has the following projection parameters:

Ellipsoid: Semi-major axis a = 6378300.00 m

Inverse flattening 1 f =296
Latitude of natural origin 0 4º 40' 00'' N

Longitude of natural origin 0 1º 00' 00'' W

Scale factor at natural origin k0 0.99975

False easting FE 274,319.736 m (or 900,000 ft)

False northing FN 0 m (or 0 ft)

(i) If the scale factor at a point 466,000 ft east or west of the central meridian is equal
to one (1), derive a non-rigorous formula for computing the scale factor (or scale
distortion) at any point on the map.

(ii) Hence, compute the scale distortion at a point Q on Ghana’s National Grid System
with coordinates 474,319.736 mE and 200,000 mN.

(iii) Compute the actual scale of the map at point Q in (ii) above if the nominal scale of
the map is 1:50,000.

I. Dadzie
C. Fosu

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Aide Memoire:

E (in metres)  FE  k0  A  1  T  C  A3 / 6   5  18T  T 2  72C  58e2  A5 /120 

N (in metres)  FN  k0 M  M 0   tan  [ A2 / 2   5  T  9C  4C 2  A4 / 24 

 61  58T  T 2

 600C  330e2  A6 / 720]

where

T  tan 2 

C  e2 cos 2 

A  (  0 ) cos  , with  and 0 in radians

a
 1

1  e 2
sin  
2 2

1  e 2 4  3e 4 64  5e6 256  ...    3 e 2 8  3e 4 32  45e6 1024  ... sin 2 

M  a 
  15 e 4 256  45 e6 1024  ... sin 4   35e6 3072  ... sin 6  ... 
 

Where
k0 , 0 = scale factor and longitude at the origin;
M = the distance along the central meridian from equator to latitude  ;

M 0 = the distance along the central meridian from equator to latitude of natural origin 0

0 = latitude of origin
 A = latitude of point A
 A = longitude of point A
 = prime vertical radius of curvature at latitude  A
 = meridional radius of curvature at latitude  A

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Bowring’s Formulae
Common Equations

A  1  e2 cos 4 1 
12

B  1  e2 cos 2 1 
12

C  1  e2 
12

  2  1
  2  1

Direct Problem Equations

sB 2

aC
1  A tan  sin 12 
2  1  tan 1  
A  B cos 1  tan  sin 1 cos 12 
A  2  1 
w
2
1   1 
D  sin 1 sin   cos 12  sin 1 sin 12 tan w  
2   A 
 3  4 
2  1  2 D  B  e2 D sin  21  BD  
2 3 
  B sin 12 
 2  tan 1  
 cos   tan  tan 1  B cos 12  
Inverse Problem Equations
  3e2  2 
D 1  sin  21    
2B  4B  3 
A  2  1 
w
2
E  sin D cos w
1
F sin w  B cos 1 cos D  sin 1 sin D 
A


; sin   E 2  F 2 
F 12
tan G 
E 2
1 
tan H    sin 1  B cos 1 tan D  tan w
A 
aC
1  G  H ;  2  G  H  180 ; s  2
B

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