GEODETIC COORDINATE

SYSTEM

By : Muhammad Ateeq ur Rehman Siddique

&
Shehzada Muhammad Atif

CELESTIAL MECHANICS
Dr. Abdul Rehman Kashif
Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad.
TABLE OF CONTENT
References
Definitions
Geodesy
Topography
Geoid
Ellipsoid
Why geoid/ellipsoid?
Coordinate System
Geodetic Coordinate System
World Geodetic System 1984
REFERENCES
The Foundation of Celestial Mechanics by
George W. Collins, II

https://www.meted.ucar.edu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti
onary/
geodetic
DEFINIFTIONS
Geodesy: Geodesy is the science of
determining the exact position
of points on the surface of the Earth.
DEFINITIONS
Topography: The topographic surface
includes the landforms we
see and the seafloor under the
oceans. It is the surface on which
actual measurements are made.
DEFINITIONS
Geoid: The irregular shape of Earth
surface is called geoid. This is due to the
variations in the size, shape, and density of
the earth which also cause slight variations
in the strength of gravity's pull.
Geoid is also the surface which defines zero
elevation.
DEFINITIONS
Ellipsoid: Earth bulges slightly at the
equator, the geometric figure
used in geodesy is a flattened sphere, called an
oblate spheroid or ellipsoid of revolution.
Geodesists, by convention, define the ellipsoid
by itssemimajor axisandflattening.
THIS FIGURE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE TOPOGRAPHIC SURFACE, THE GEOID, AND
THE ELLIPSOID.
THIS FIGURE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE TOPOGRAPHIC SURFACE, THE GEOID, AND
THE ELLIPSOID.
 The difference between the ellipsoid of
revolution representing the earth and a sphere is
very small.
i.e., At 1/300, the Earth's flattening appears
negligible.

So why bother?
EXPLAINED
The Earth's radius at the equator is 6371 km.
With a flattening of 1/300, the distance from
the center of the Earth to the poles is 21 km
less. As a result, assuming a spherical Earth
would result in large errors for calculated
distances.

The geoidal separation (distance between

geoid and ellipsoid) is far less than the
separation between sphere and ellipsoid. It
ranges from +85m to -107m worldwide.
COORDINATE SYSTEM
To describe location/position of a point on Earth we
need some frame of reference that is called
coordinate system.
Geodetic coordinate system is one of the coordinate
systems.

Importance:
Earth is not perfectly spherical and
Internationalspace scienceand the beginning
ofastronautics.
The lack of inter-continental geodetic information.
Need for global maps fornavigation, aviation,
andgeography.
WesternCold Warpreparedness necessitated a
standardised,NATO-wide geospatial reference system, in
accordance with the NATOStandardisation Agreement
GEODETIC COORDINATE SYSTEM
Geodetic means related to geodesy
Ifwe talk about a coordinate system that is related to the
terrestrial specifications and defines the positions more
accurate than the other coordinate system regarding map
projection.
World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS-84) is widely in use for GPS.
Like other coordinate systems it also latitude/longitude
coordinates system for determining horizontal position on
Earth.
latitude and longitude are measured in degrees.
There are 180 of latitude, ranging from +90 at the North Pole
to 0 at the equator to -90 at the South Pole.
Longitude counts 360 eastward from the Prime Meridian that
passes through Greenwich, England. (A meridian is a line of
longitude).
GEODETIC LATITUDE

The geodetic latitude at a surface station is the angle

which the normal to the ellipsoid makes with the plane
of the geodetic equator.
GEODETIC LONGITUDE

The geodetic longitude is the angle between the plane of

the geodetic meridian at a station and the plane of the
geodetic meridian at Greenwich.
NOTE:
A geodetic longitude differs from the
corresponding astronomic longitude by
accounting for the local deflection of the
vertical.
Geodetic longitude and geocentric longitude
are the same.
WORLD GEODETIC SYSTEM 1984
WGS84 is the standard U.S. Department of
Defense definition of a global reference
system for geospatial information and is the
reference system for the Global Positioning
System (GPS).
WGS84 is an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed
terrestrial reference system and geodetic
datum. WGS84 is based on a consistent set of
constants and model parameters that
describe the Earth's size, shape, and gravity
and geomagnetic fields.