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Concept
Geodesy
Summary
Geodesy is the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the Earth in temporally varying 3D. It is called planetary geodesy when studying other astronomical bodies, such as planets or circumplanetary systems.
Geodynamical phenomena, including crustal motion, tides, and polar motion, can be studied by designing global and national control networks, applying space geodesy and terrestrial geodetic techniques, and relying on datums and coordinate systems. The job titles are geodesist and geodetic surveyor.
History of geodesy
Geodesy began in pre-scientific antiquity, so the very word geodesy comes from the Ancient Greek word γεωδαισία or geodaisia (literally, "division of Earth").
Early ideas about the figure of the Earth held the Earth to be flat and the heavens a physical dome spanning over it. Two early arguments for a spherical Earth were that lunar eclipses appear to an observer as circular shadows and that Polaris appears lower and lower in the sky to a traveler headed South.
In the English-speaking world, geodesy refers to the science of measuring and representing geospatial information, while geomatics encompasses practical applications of geodesy on local and regional scales, including surveying.
Geodesy in the German-speaking world consists of higher geodesy (höhere Geodäsie or Erdmessung, literally "geomensuration") — concerned with measuring Earth on the global scale, and practical geodesy or engineering geodesy (Ingenieurgeodäsie) that includes surveying — measuring parts or regions of Earth.
For the longest time, geodesy was the science of measuring and understanding Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational field; however, geodetic science and operations are applied to other astronomical bodies in our Solar System also.
To a large extent, Earth's shape is the result of rotation, which causes its equatorial bulge, and the competition of geological processes such as the collision of plates, as well as of volcanism, resisted by Earth's gravitational field.
Official source
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