A geodetic measurement is any method of measuring geographic distance or area that uses a curved (nonplanar) surface to model the Earth. The most common of these use a great circle
Also known as
- nonplanar
Related terms
- geodesic
Geodesic is the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a spheroid (also known as an ellipsoid). Any two points along a meridian form a geodesic line. - great circle
A great circle is a geodetic measurement that models the earth's surface as a sphere. A plane is formed by the start and end measure points and the center of the sphere. - planar measurement
Planar measurements are measurements made on a flat surface. When using geographic coordinates, planar measurements must cut through the curved surface of the earth, causing the measurement to be shorter than the true distance.