Geometric Geodesy

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: 1. demonstrate understanding of aims and historical development of geodesy; 2. identify representations of the figure of earth and geodetic coordinate systems; 3. carry out geodetic computations on ellipsoid and spheroid; 4. provide solutions to direct and indirect problems on sphere and ellipsoid; and 5. carry out data transformation from one datum to another.

Basic concept of geodesy. Aims and historical development of geodesy. Methods used in Geodesy and factors used for the classification in Geodesy. Representation of the figure of the earth. Coordinate systems like terrestrial and celestial coordinate systems, satellite coordinate system, inertial coordinates, curvilinear and Cartesian coordinate systems. Three-dimensional geodesy, Relative and absolute geodetic positioning. Geometry of an ellipse. Latitudes. space-rectangular coordinates. Radii of curvature. Lengths and areas on ellipsoid. Curves on the ellipsoid. Normal Sections and Geodesics. Direct and inverse problems on sphere and ellipsoid. Geodetic datum and ellipsoid as reference surface. Data transformation from one datum to another.