Transformation of coordinates between two horizontal geodetic datums

The following topics are discussed in this paper: the geocentric coordinate system and its different realizations used in geodetic practice; the definition of a horizontal geodetic datum (reference ellipsoid) and its positioning and orientation with respect to the geocentric coordinate system; positions on a horizontal datum and errors inherent in the process of positioning; and distortions of geodetic networks referred to a horizontal datum. The problem of determining transformation parameters between a horizontal datum and the geocentric coordinate system from known positions is then analysed. It is often found necessary to transform positions from one horizontal datum to another. These transformations are normally accomplished through the geocentric coordinate system and they include the transformation parameters of the two datums as well as the representation of the respective network distortions. Problems encountered in putting these transformations together are pointed out.     

Realization of a consistent set of vertical reference surfaces in coastal areas

We present a combined approach for the realization of the (quasi-)geoid as a height reference surface and the vertical reference surface at sea (chart datum). This approach, specifically designed for shallow seas and coastal waters, provides the relation between the two vertical reference surfaces without gaps down to the coast. It uses a regional hydrodynamic model, which, after vertical referencing, provides water levels relative to a given (quasi-)geoid. Conversely, the hydrodynamic model is also used to realize a (quasi-)geoid by providing corrections to the dynamic sea surface topography, which are used to reduce radar altimeter-derived sea surface heights to the (quasi-)geoid. The coupled problem of vertically referencing the hydrodynamic model and computing the (quasi-)geoid is solved iteratively. After convergence of the iteration process, the vertically referenced hydrodynamic model is used to realize the chart datum. In this way, consistency between the chart datum and (quasi-)geoid is ensured. We demonstrate the feasibility and performance of this approach for the Dutch mainland and North Sea. We show that in the Dutch part of the North Sea, the differences between modeled and observed instantaneous and mean dynamic sea surface topography is 8–10 and 5.8 cm, respectively. On land, we show that the methodology provides a quasi-geoid which has a lower standard deviation (SD) than the European Gravimetric Geoid 2008 (EGG08) and the official Netherlands quasi-geoid NLGEO2004-grav when compared to GPS-levelling data. The root mean square at 81 GPS-levelling points is below 1.4 cm; no correction surface is needed. Finally, we show that the chart datum (lowest astronomical tide, LAT) agrees with the observed chart datum at 92 onshore tide gauges to within 21.5 cm (SD).     

Unification of vertical datums by GPS and gravimetric geoid models with application to Fennoscandia

The second Baltic Sea Level (BSL) GPS campaign was run for one week in June 1993. Data from 35 tide gauge sites and five fiducial stations were analysed, for three fiducial stations (Onsala, Mets?hovi and Wettzell) fixed at the ITRF93 system. On a time-scale of 5 days, precision was several parts in 10⁹ for the horizontal and vertical components. Accuracies were about 1 cm in comparison with the International GPS Geodynamical Service (IGS) coordinates in three directions. To connect the Swedish and the Finnish height systems, our numerical application utilises three approaches: a rigorous approach, a bias fit and a three-parameter fit. The results between the Swedish RH70 and the Finnish N 60 systems are estimated to −19.3 ± 6.5, −17 ± 6 and −15 ± 6 cm, respectively, by the three approaches. The results of the three indirect methods are in an agreement with those of a direct approach from levelling and gravity measurements. Received: 3 April 1996 / Accepted: 4 August 1997     

The deflection of the vertical of major geodetic datums and the semimajor axis of the Earth's ellipsoid as obtained from satellite observations

The geocentric (terrestrial) coordinates of the 12 Baker-Nunn stations are derived from an analysis of 46,535 observations of 13 different satellites, and the absolute deflection of the vertical for 7 datums is determined. Based on those deflections of the vertical and through geoidal fit, the value of a=6.378169 Mm for the semimajor axis of the earth's ellipsoid is derived. Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory     

Relation between geoidal undulation, deflection of the vertical and vertical gravity gradient revisited

The vertical gradients of gravity anomaly and gravity disturbance can be related to horizontal first derivatives of deflection of the vertical or second derivatives of geoidal undulations. These are simplified relations of which different variations have found application in satellite altimetry with the implicit assumption that the neglected terms—using remove-restore—are sufficiently small. In this paper, the different simplified relations are rigorously connected and the neglected terms are made explicit. The main neglected terms are a curvilinear term that accounts for the difference between second derivatives in a Cartesian system and on a spherical surface, and a small circle term that stems from the difference between second derivatives on a great and small circle. The neglected terms were compared with the dynamic ocean topography (DOT) and the requirements on the GOCE gravity gradients. In addition, the signal root-mean-square (RMS) of the neglected terms and vertical gravity gradient were compared, and the effect of a remove-restore procedure was studied. These analyses show that both neglected terms have the same order of magnitude as the DOT gradient signal and may be above the GOCE requirements, and should be accounted for when combining altimetry derived and GOCE measured gradients. The signal RMS of both neglected terms is in general small when compared with the signal RMS of the vertical gravity gradient, but they may introduce gradient errors above the spherical approximation error. Remove-restore with gravity field models reduces the errors in the vertical gravity gradient, but it appears that errors above the spherical approximation error cannot be avoided at individual locations. When computing the vertical gradient of gravity anomaly from satellite altimeter data using deflections of the vertical, the small circle term is readily available and can be included. The direct computation of the vertical gradient of gravity disturbance from satellite altimeter data is more difficult than the computation of the vertical gradient of gravity anomaly because in the former case the curvilinear term is needed, which is not readily available.     

Devising stable geometrical reference frames for use in geodetic studies of vertical crustal motion

We present a method for constructing and assessing the stability of a geometrical reference frame for use in vertical crustal motion studies. Our approach exploits the fact that when we transform GPS velocity solutions from one reference frame (RF) to another one using a Helmert transformation, only the frame translation rate parameters produce significant changes in the vertical station velocities expressed in the final RF. Loosely speaking, one can select and impose a ‘vertical RF’ from an ensemble of candidate frames, without any reference to the ‘horizontal RF’ (which can be selected and imposed afterwards), by seeing how the frame translation rates vary as one moves across the ensemble of frames. We order this ensemble according to the number of stations, N, incorporated into the set VREF whose RMS vertical motion is minimized in order to realize each frame. The value of N controls the level of scatter in, and hence the degree of similarity between the vertical velocities of the stations composing VREF. We characterize a specific vertical RF as stable if all of the frames located in a large neighborhood of the ensemble which includes the specific frame are characterized by very small relative frame translation rates. In this case, the expression of vertical GPS station velocities in any of these frames would lead to very similar results. We present a case study using a very large global time series in which we find a large RF neighborhood in which vertical station velocities are globally stable at the $\sim $ 0.2 mm/year level, and a slightly smaller neighborhood in which vertical stability improves to $\sim $ 0.1 mm/year level in polar regions.     

Transformation between SLR/VLBI and WGS-84 reference frames

In geodetic and geophysical applications of GPS, it is important to realize the ephemerides of the GPS satellites and the coordinates of station positions in a consistent reference system. At present, more than one reference system is being used by various GPS users depending on their specific applications. The WGS-84 and various reference frames based on satellite laser ranging (SLR), very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), or a combination of SLR and VLBI are the most commonly used in high precision geophysical applications. The WGS-84 is widely used in applications which rely on the GPS broadcast ephemeris. Station coordinates estimated in one system may have to be transformed to another for further use or for evaluation/comparison purposes. This paper presents a seven-parameter transformation between the WGS-84 and SLR/VLBI reference frames. The GPS double-differenced phase measurements for two consecutive weeks from a set of five Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) sites (defined in the WGS-84 frame) and from an augmented set of fifteen CIGNET sites (defined in the SLR/VLBI frame) were processed in a least squares estimation scheme to determine station coordinates, from which the transformation parameters were determined. A scale difference of about 0.2 ppm and an orientation difference in longitude of about 31 milliarcseconds were found to be the only parameters of significance between the adopted SLR/VLBI and the WGS-84 frames. Transformation between WGS-84 and the ITRF90 is also included, in which the scale difference is the same as before but the longitude rotation is about 16 mas.     

Transforming ellipsoidal heights and geoid undulations between different geodetic reference frames

Transforming height information that refers to an ellipsoidal Earth reference model, such as the geometric heights determined from GPS measurements or the geoid undulations obtained by a gravimetric geoid solution, from one geodetic reference frame (GRF) to another is an important task whose proper implementation is crucial for many geodetic, surveying and mapping applications. This paper presents the required methodology to deal with the above problem when we are given the Helmert transformation parameters that link the underlying Cartesian coordinate systems to which an Earth reference ellipsoid is attached. The main emphasis is on the effect of GRF spatial scale differences in coordinate transformations involving reference ellipsoids, for the particular case of heights. Since every three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system ‘gauges’ an attached ellipsoid according to its own accessible scale, there will exist a supplementary contribution from the scale variation between the involved GRFs on the relative size of their attached reference ellipsoids. Neglecting such a scale-induced indirect effect corrupts the values for the curvilinear geodetic coordinates obtained from a similarity transformation model, and meter-level apparent offsets can be introduced in the transformed heights. The paper explains the above issues in detail and presents the necessary mathematical framework for their treatment. An erratum to this article can be found at     

天球参考系与地球参考系之间的坐标转换研究进展

天球参考系(CRS)与地球参考系(TRS)之间的坐标转换是天体测量学、大地测量学和地球物理学共同关注的研究领域,也是高精度的军事测绘保障和空间大地测量技术实现的理论基础。基于IAU2000的有关决议,重新研究了CRS和TRS之间转换的有关问题,主要内容包括:天球历书极(CEP)目前存在的问题和天球中间极(CIP)的引入;非旋转原点(NRO)、天球历书原点(CEO)和地球历书原点(TEO)的基本概念;基于春分点和NRO的坐标转换模型以及其中的有关参数的确定。本文完整地综述了CRS和TRS之间转换的理论,也指出了其中存在的问题和有待改进的地方。     

Global and local methods for tracking the intersection curve between two surfaces

At present, the modelling of terrain edges from discrete data clouds {x,y,z} is one of the ‘hot topics’ in the processing of laser scanning data. This paper proposes two different methods for the three-dimensional modelling of terrain edges. Common to both methods is the idea to describe the terrain edge as the intersection line of two surface patches z_i=z(x,y), i=1,2. The first method is based on numerical integration of a differential equation describing the intersection line. The second method uses the snakes algorithm for the identification of the terrain edge. Both methods are tested for synthetic and real-world data examples, which shows that they are suitable for the practical extraction of edges from laser scanning data.     

网络RTK基准站间的模糊度及空间相关误差解算

利用载波相位双差观测值的宽巷和无电离层组合固定部分模糊度参数,并采用Kalman滤波算法估计残余的对流层延迟;然后对观测值进行改正,剔除对流层延迟误差,从而提高剩余模糊度参数的固定率;最后估计双差电离层延迟。文中采用美国CORS网的GPS数据进行实验,实验结果表明,自适应滤波算法可明显提高残余对流层延迟的解算精度和模糊度的解算效率;固定模糊度并改正对流层和电离层延迟,差分定位精度得到很大提高。     

BDS参考站三频整周模糊度单历元确定方法

参考站载波相位整周模糊度的准确确定是实现BDS网络RTK定位的关键。本文研究了BDS参考站三频载波相位整周模糊度单历元确定方法。首先推导了参考站三频载波相位整周模糊度之间的多个整数线性关系,根据双频载波相位整周模糊度的整数线性关系,以及B1载波相位整周模糊度备选值,确定B1/B2和B1/B3载波相位整周模糊度的备选组合。然后利用不受误差影响的三频载波相位整周模糊度间整数线性关系,对整周模糊度备选值进行约束和确定。根据大气误差的空间相关性,采用以卫星高度角和方位角为依据的基准卫星选择方法,降低了对流层延迟误差残差对多频载波相位整周模糊度之间线性关系约束能力的影响。试验结果表明,本文方法能够实现参考站三频载波相位整周模糊度的单历元准确确定,且计算效率高,算法简单。     

Network-based triple-frequency carrier phase ambiguity resolution between reference stations using BDS data for long baselines

Network-based ambiguity resolution (AR) between reference stations is the prerequisite to realize a precise real-time kinematic positioning service. With the help of BDS triple-frequency signals, we can efficiently deal with the ionospheric delay and tropospheric delay, and achieve rapid and reliable AR. To overcome the inaccurate ionospheric delay estimated by the geometry-free three carrier ambiguity resolution (GF TCAR) technique, which leads to failure in the original ambiguity resolution, we propose an ionospheric-free (IF) TCAR method to resolve the ambiguity between the reference stations over long baselines. Taking full advantage of the known positions of the reference stations, the easily resolved extra-wide-lane (EWL) ambiguity, and the IF phase combinations, we can reliably fix the wide-lane (WL) ambiguity. A Kalman filter is applied to estimate precise IF ambiguities and the original ambiguity is resolved with the fixed WL ambiguity. A numerical analysis with triple-frequency BDS data from three long baselines of a CORS network is provided to compare the AR performance of GF TCAR with that of IF TCAR. The results show that both methods can reliably resolve the WL ambiguity with a remarkable correctly-fixed rate of higher than 99%, and the reliably-fixed rates of the IF TCAR slightly increase from 92.19, 94.67 and 94.61–98.26, 99.54 and 97.51% for the three baselines. Herein “correctly-fixed” and “reliably-fixed” mean the difference between the float ambiguity and the true one are less than ± 0.5 and ± 0.25 cycles, respectively. On the other hand, the AR performance of the original signals with the IF TCAR method is much better than that with the GF TCAR method attaining a 100% correctly-fixed rate, while the GF TCAR method can hardly fix the original ambiguity with the largest bias being as much as 4 cycles because of the amplified systematic bias.     

Gravity anomalies from satellite altimetry: comparison between computation via geoid heights and via deflections of the vertical

The accumulation of good quality satellite altimetry missions allows us to have a precise geoid with fair resolution and to compute free air gravity anomalies easily by fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques.In this study we are comparing two methods to get gravity anomalies. The first one is to establish a geoid grid and transform it into anomalies using inverse Stokes formula in the spectral domain via FFT. The second one computes deflection of the vertical grids and transforms them into anomalies.The comparison is made using different data sets: Geosat, ERS-1 and Topex-Poseidon exact repeat misions (ERMs) north of 30°S and Geosat geodetic mission (GM) south of 30°S. The second method which transforms the geoid gradients converted into deflection of the vertical values is much better and the results have been favourably evaluated by comparison with marine gravity data.     

美国的垂直基准转换及启示

针对我国陆海垂直基准不统一的问题,该文提出借鉴美国垂直基准转换的方法,通过介绍美国使用的正高基准、潮汐基准和三维基准等垂直基准的定义和实现情况,详细说明美国垂直基准转换的技术路线、关键技术以及转换的实际精度,总结出对美国垂直基准转换的认识和给我国垂直基准转换的启示。研究结果以期为相关领域提供参考。     

An approach for establishing correspondence between OpenStreetMap and reference datasets for land use and land cover mapping

OpenStreetMap (OSM) provides free source data for land use and land cover (LULC) mapping of many regions globally. Earlier work has used just manual and subjective approaches to establish correspondence between paired OSM and reference datasets, an essential step for LULC mapping. This study proposes an approach to establish correspondence via three steps: (1) convert line feature(s) into polygon feature(s); (2) merge multiple polygon feature(s) into a single layer; and (3) establish correspondence and reclassify OSM and/or reference datasets. Study areas in Sheffield, London, Rome, and Paris were used for testing, and two measures (overall accuracy, OA and kappa index) were used for evaluation. Experiments were designed to verify this approach, with each pair of OSM and reference datasets initially compared after reclassification. Correspondence from one study area was then applied to another for further validation. Results show that OA was between 70 and 90% and the kappa index varied between 0.6 and 0.8. Evaluation also indicates that the correspondence obtained from one study area is applicable to another, and we illustrate the effectiveness of this approach.