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View from the Swabian Jura to the Alps. Geographical distance or geodetic distance is the distance measured along the surface of the Earth, or the shortest arch length.. The formulae in this article calculate distances between points which are defined by geographical coordinates in terms of latitude and longitude.
Geodetic latitude and geocentric latitude have different definitions. Geodetic latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and the surface normal at a point on the ellipsoid, whereas geocentric latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and a radial line connecting the centre of the ellipsoid to a point on the surface (see figure).
A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on Earth as latitude and longitude. [1] It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used type of the various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others.
The coordinate origin of WGS 84 is meant to be located at the Earth's center of mass; the uncertainty is believed to be less than 2 cm. [ 7 ] Handheld GPS receiver at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich , indicating that the Greenwich meridian is 0.089 arcminutes (or 5.34 arcseconds ) west of the WGS 84 datum (the IERS Reference Meridian )
The length of a degree of longitude (east–west distance) depends only on the radius of a circle of latitude. For a sphere of radius a that radius at latitude φ is a cos φ, and the length of a one-degree (or π / 180 radian) arc along a circle of latitude is
The reverse conversion is harder: given X-Y-Z can immediately get longitude, but no closed formula for latitude and height exists. See "Geodetic system." Using Bowring's formula in 1976 Survey Review the first iteration gives latitude correct within 10-11 degree as long as the point is within 10,000 meters above or 5,000 meters below the ellipsoid.
In geodesy, geographic coordinate conversion is defined as translation among different coordinate formats or map projections all referenced to the same geodetic datum. [1] A geographic coordinate transformation is a translation among different geodetic datums. Both geographic coordinate conversion and transformation will be considered in this ...
In the cylindrical coordinate system, a z-coordinate with the same meaning as in Cartesian coordinates is added to the r and θ polar coordinates giving a triple (r, θ, z). [8] Spherical coordinates take this a step further by converting the pair of cylindrical coordinates ( r , z ) to polar coordinates ( ρ , φ ) giving a triple ( ρ , θ ...