PROJECTION AND COORDINATE

SYSTEM OF THE EARTH

-THE SHAPE AND SIZE OF THE EARTH
-PROJECTION AND COORDINATE SYSTEM
Dr. Riffat Mahmood
MSc (DU); PhD (CAS)
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environment, Jagannath
University
 EARTH AS A CARTOGRAPHIC PROBLEM
There is a lot of ambiguity regarding the correct shape of earth, whether it
is spherical, ellipsoidal or geoidal. To a layman these terminologies are
synonymous. However, to a geographer or earth scientist each of these
terms is having different meaning.
Spherical Earth
• A sphere is defined as the set of points in three-dimensional space so that
all are located at the same distance ‘r’ (radius) from a given point which
is supposed to be the centre.
• Twice the radius is called the diameter, and pairs of points on the sphere
on opposite sides of a diameter are called antipodes.
Refer to Fig. 1.3 to see a sphere with
radius ‘r’ and AB as antipodes or points
diametrically opposite to each other.
• It was Eratosthenes who first
demonstrated that the earth is sphere
in shape. He did this by measuring the
angle at which sun’s rays fell at two
places on the same longitude but at
different latitudes. He observed that
during the summer solstice, mid-day
sun’s rays reached straight to the
bottom of a well at a place called
Syene. However, at the same time he
noticed that sun’s rays were not
directly overhead but making an angle
q with the vertical at a place called
Alexandria which was on the same
longitude as Syene.
Refer to Fig. 1.4 to understand
it better. He found the angle q
that sun’s rays made with the
vertical at Alexandria to be
7°12'. He found the linear
distance between Syene and
Alexandria to be about 805
km. With the help of all this
information he calculated the
circumference of earth to be
about 40,070 km. However, his
measurements were not so
accurate but considering the
instruments he used in those
times, it was very near to
accurate. Angle ‘θ’, is equal to
the angle formed at the centre
of earth between Syene and
Alexandria. Since the angle ‘θ’
is representing 805 km of the
circumference, so 360o would
represent the entire
circumference of earth
Ellipsoidal Earth
• Contrary to sphere, which is based on a circle, a spheroid (or ellipsoid) is based on
an ellipse. An ellipse is oval-shaped defined by two radii. The longer radius is called
the semi-major axis, and the shorter radius is called the semi minor axis.
• The amount of polar flattening is given by the ratio, F = (a-b)/a, where ‘a’ is the
equatorial radius and ‘b’ is the polar radius.
• Refer to Fig. 1.5 rotating the ellipse around the semi-minor axis creates a spheroid.
Thus, an ellipsoid or spheroid is a three-dimensional shape created from a two-
dimensional ellipse. So, ellipsoid is responsible for polar flattening and equatorial
bulge. A spheroid is also known as an oblate ellipsoid of revolution.
• The first scholar to give the nearly appropriate shape of earth was Thomas
Issac Newton in 1786. He described earth as an oblate spheroid, which
means that earth is having equatorial radius greater than polar radius.
• One important thing to be remembered here is that the ellipsoidal
surface is smooth, and it assumes the earth to be homogenous, as if there
are no relief features on earth.
Geoidal Earth
• Geoid is defined as the surface of the earth’s gravity field and
approximates the mean sea level. At any point, it is perpendicular to the
direction of gravity. Since the mass of earth is not uniform at all points, the
direction of gravitational force changes and hence, the shape of geoid is
also irregular. If the earth would have been devoid of all relief features,
that is, mountains, and ocean basins, etc, then the geoid surface would
have matched the ellipsoid exactly. Refer to Fig. 1.6 to get a better
picture of a geoid and a spheroid.
• The force of gravitation is the pioneer in determining
current shape of the earth. The gravitational force
due to earth’s mass is directed towards the center of
the earth and is opposed by centrifugal force which
detracts it from the Centre. The measured gravity of
earth is the result of combination of mass gravitation
and centrifugal force (Fig. 1.7). Thus, the gravitational
force is weaker at equator than at poles by 0.5
percent.
• The earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours. So it
completes 360° of rotation in 24 hours. So it takes one
hour to rotate for 15°. The rotation of earth thus leads
to variation in time at two places situated on different
longitudes. The local mean time at a particular place
is reckoned from the lower transit of the mean sun
and thus different meridian have different local mean
time. Also, the difference between local mean times
between two places is equal to the difference in their
longitudes. To avoid confusion, a standard meridian is
selected for each country which is at a fixed number
of hours ahead or behind the Greenwich Mean Time.
The difference between the standard and local time
of any place is due to the difference in the longitudes
between the given place and the standard meridian
used.
PROJECTION AND COORDINATE
SYSTEM
• Projection, in cartography, systematic representation on a flat
surface of features of a curved surface, as that of the Earth.
• It is a two-dimensional representation of something that is
three-dimensional, all representations undergo some kind of
deformation, so that the choice of a method takes into
account not only technical aspects, but also political ones.
• This deformation is related to the tangency area, which is the
point where the projection comes into contact with the
surface of the globe. The regions closer to this axis can be
portrayed more closely to the real thing, and the distortion
increases in the opposite direction of the area.
• Cartography recognizes three types of projection, the cylindrical, which
uses a cylinder as the area of the plane; the conic, which uses a cone as a
plane; and the plane or azimuthal, which does not have a specific plane
or tangency area, but normally uses the poles as centrality.
• In addition to projection types, another important criterion for
representations is their property, according to the areas, angles or
distances of the representation. The representation must be faithful to one
of these criteria, but for geometric reasons it cannot respond to all three at
the same time.
RECAP
1. Discuss size and shape of the Earth as Cartographic problem.
2. Discuss the types of projection in detail.