The determination of potential difference by the joint application of measured and synthetical gravity data: a case study in Hungary

In an elementary approach every geometrical height difference between the staff points of a levelling line should have a corresponding average g value for the determination of potential difference in the Earth’s gravity field. In practice this condition requires as many gravity data as the number of staff points if linear variation of g is assumed between them. Because of the expensive fieldwork, the necessary data should be supplied from different sources. This study proposes an alternative solution, which is proved at a test bed located in the Mecsek Mountains, Southwest Hungary, where a detailed gravity survey, as dense as the staff point density (~1 point/34 m), is available along a 4.3-km-long levelling line. In the first part of the paper the effect of point density of gravity data on the accuracy of potential difference is investigated. The average g value is simply derived from two neighbouring g measurements along the levelling line, which are incrementally decimated in the consecutive turns of processing. The results show that the error of the potential difference between the endpoints of the line exceeds 0.1 mm in terms of length unit if the sampling distance is greater than 2 km. Thereafter, a suitable method for the densification of the decimated g measurements is provided. It is based on forward gravity modelling utilising a high-resolution digital terrain model, the normal gravity and the complete Bouguer anomalies. The test shows that the error is only in the order of 10⁻³mm even if the sampling distance of g measurements is 4 km. As a component of the error sources of levelling, the ambiguity of the levelled height difference which is the Euclidean distance between the inclined equipotential surfaces is also investigated. Although its effect accumulated along the test line is almost zero, it reaches 0.15 mm in a 1-km-long intermediate section of the line.     

The IGS VTEC maps: a reliable source of ionospheric information since 1998

The International GNSS Service (IGS) Working Group on Ionosphere was created in 1998. Since then, the Scientific community behind IGS, in particular CODE, ESA, JPL and UPC, have been continuosly contributing to reliable IGS combined vertical total electron content (VTEC) maps in both rapid and final schedules. The details on how these products are being generated, performance numbers, proposed improvement as far as VTEC evolution trends during near one Solar Cycle, are summarized in this paper. The confirmation of (1) the good performance of the IGS combined VTEC maps, and (2) the characteristic VTEC variability periods, are two main results of this work.     

CPLat: first operational experimental processing center for SIRGAS in Argentina

The SIRGAS permanent GPS network which is in fact the IGS network densification for the American continent, consists today of more than 200 stations covering the continent and islands. It is currently processed by the IGS RNAAC SIR centre at Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut producing weekly free solutions relying on IGS final orbits and EOP that contribute to the ITRF through IGS. By August 2006, the SIRGAS Working Group I had accepted five proposals for experimental processing centers within the region that would collaborate with IGS RNAAC SIR. One of them, Centro de Procesamiento La Plata (CPLat) in Argentina, began processing 60 stations on October 2006. By January 2007 CPLat reached operational capability, delivering weekly free solution SINEX files, with an internal consistency of 1.5 mm average for the horizontal components, and 3 mm in the vertical. Comparisons with IGS global and IGS RNAAC SIR weekly solutions were taken as external consistency indications, showing average RMS residuals of 1.8, 2.4 and 5 mm for the north, east, and vertical component, respectively. Analysis and comparison of adjusted solution time series from CPLat and other processing centers has proved to be highly valuable for solution QC, namely detection and identification of station anomalous behavior or modelling problems. These procedures will ensure the maintenance of the performance specifications for CPLat solutions. Action is being taken in order to guarantee the continuity of this effort beyond the experimental phase.     

Mental maps and travel behaviour: meanings and models

In this paper, the “mental map” concept is positioned with regard to individual travel behaviour to start with. Based on Ogden and Richards’ triangle of meaning (The meaning of meaning: a study of the influence of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism. International library of psychology, philosophy and scientific method. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1966) distinct thoughts, referents and symbols originating from different scientific disciplines are identified and explained in order to clear up the notion’s fuzziness. Next, the use of this concept in two major areas of research relevant to travel demand modelling is indicated and discussed in detail: spatial cognition and decision-making. The relevance of these constructs to understand and model individual travel behaviour is explained and current research efforts to implement these concepts in travel demand models are addressed. Furthermore, these mental map notions are specified in two types of computational models, i.e. a Bayesian Inference Network (BIN) and a Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM). Both models are explained, and a numerical and a real-life example are provided. Both approaches yield a detailed quantitative representation of the mental map of decision-making problems in travel behaviour.     

A note on frame transformations with applications to geodetic datums

Rigorous equations in compact symbolic matrix notation are introduced to transform coordinates and velocities between ITRF frames and modern GPS-based geocentric geodetic datums. The theory is general but, after neglecting higher than second-order terms, it is shown that the equations revert to the formulation currently applied in most major continental datums. We discuss several examples: the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83), the European Terrestrial Reference System of 1989 (ETRS89), the Geodetic Datum of Australia of 1994 (GDA94), and the South American Geocentric Reference System (SIRGAS). Electronic Publication     

Possibilities of GPS Kinematic Measurements for Geological Survey in East Slovakia

This paper deals with transformation procedures for observed GPS data from the world geodetic system WGS-84 into the national geodetic grid datum S-UTCN(system of united trigonometric cadaster network) and Baa(the Baltic Sea after adjustment).Transformation from WGS-84 into SUTCN is performed most frequently by means of the 7-element Helmert transformation with three identical points.Geodetic network was adjusted by two ways.     

Evaluation of pre-CHAMP gravity models `GRIM5-S1' and `GRIM5-C1' with satellite crossover altimetry

 The new GFZ/GRGS gravity field models GRIM5-S1 and GRIM5-C1, currently used as initial models for the CHAMP mission, have been compared with other recent models (JGM 3, EGM 96) for radial orbit accuracy (by means of latitude lumped coefficients) in computations on altimetry satellite orbits. The bases for accuracy judgements are multi-year averages of crossover sea height differences from Geosat and ERS 1/2 missions. This radially sensitive data is fully independent of the data used to develop these gravity models. There is good agreement between the observed differences in all of the world's oceans and projections of the same errors from the scaled covariance matrix of their harmonic geopotential coefficients. It was found that the tentative scale factor of five for the formal standard deviations of the harmonic coefficients of the new GRIM fields is justified, i.e. the accuracy estimates, provided together with the GRIM geopotential coefficients, are realistic. Received: 20 February 2001 / Accepted: 24 October 2001