Math 2.0

Geophysics Definition

Geodesy

Builds on Figure of the Earth

Definition

Geodesy is the science of measuring and representing the Earth. It has three objects of study:

  1. the geometric shape and size of the Earth, the figure of the Earth;
  2. the orientation of the Earth in space, including its rotation;
  3. the gravity field of the Earth.

It also studies the changes of these three objects in time.

Remarks

Example: computing the distance between two survey markers on a model ellipsoid is a geodetic task, since it uses the geometric shape of the Earth. Non-example: finding the age of a rock layer is not geodesy, since it concerns none of the three objects above. Geodesy is often split into geometric geodesy, which treats the first two objects, and physical geodesy, which treats the gravity field.

Reading path

To understand this page from the ground up, read these 2 pages in order. The foundations come first.

Show the path as a graph
Figure of the Earth, concept, no evidence levelFigure of the EarthconceptGeodesy, definition, no evidence levelGeodesydefinition
Each page uses the pages above it. The colour of the bar on a box shows how strong the evidence is, and the box also gives it as text. The list has the same pages.
  • no evidence level
  1. Figure of the Earth concept
  2. Geodesy definition

Further reading

  1. Web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesy
About this page
TagH6K6VT38CK
URIm2://H6K6VT38CK
Kinddefinition
WritingW0 stub
MSC86A30
DefinesGeodesy
UsesFigure of the Earth
Changed3 November 2026

Markdown · JSON · Edit on GitHub

What this page needs for W1

  • a source with a locator (0 of 1)

The writing levels say how complete the text of a page is. They do not measure its truth.

What links here

No page links to this page yet.