Mathematics

Presentation
Math-241: Vector Calculus
and PDEs

APPLICATIONS OF
SPHERICAL CO-ORDINATE
SYSTEM

Introduction to Spherical Co-ordinate

System
Spherical coordinates are a system ofcurvilinear

coordinatesthat are natural for describing positions on

asphereorspheroid.
The coordinateis the distance fromPto the
origin.

is the angle between the positivex-axis and the

line segment from the origin toQ.

is the angle between the positivez-axis and the

line segment from the origin toP.

Relationship b/w Spherical and Cartesian

coordinate System

x = sin cos
y = sin sin
z = cos.

SPHEROIDS AND SPHERES

The shape and size of a geographic coordinate systems
surface is defined by a sphere or spheroid

The assumption
that the earth is a
sphere is possible for
small-scale
maps (smaller than
1:5,000,000)

To maintain accuracy
for larger-scale maps
(scales of 1:1,000,000
or larger),
a spheroid is necessary
to represent the shape
of the
Earth

A sphere is based on a circle, while a

spheroid (or ellipsoid) is based on an
ellipse

The shape of an ellipse is defined by two radii. longer radius is

the semi major axis & shorter radius is the semi minor axis.

Rotating the ellipse around the semi minor axis creates a

spheroid. A spheroid is also known as an oblate ellipsoid of
revolution

General Properties of a Spheroid

A spheroid is defined by either the semi major axis, a, and the semi minor axis,
b, or by a and the
flattening.
The flattening is the difference in length between the two axes expressed as a
fraction
f = (a - b) / a
The spheroid parameters for the World Geodetic System of 1984
a = 6378137.0 meters
1/f = 298.257223563
The flattening ranges from zero to one. A flattening value of zero means the
two axes are equal,
resulting in a sphere. The flattening of the earth is approximately 0.003353

Another quantity that describes the shape of a spheroid, is the square of the
Eccentricity

Location of a Point

The spherical coordinate system extends polar coordinates into 3D

by using an anglefor the third coordinate. This gives
coordinates(r,,)consisting of
Co-ordinate

Name

Range

radius

0r<

distance from the origin

azimuth

<

angle from thex-axis in

thexyplane

elevation

/2</2

The location of any point in

spherical is (r,,)

Definition

angle up from thex

yplane

Latitude & Longitude

A Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) uses a 3D spherical

surface to define locations on the Earth

GCSuses the azimuth and elevation of the spherical

coordinate system

A point is referenced by its longitude and latitude values

Longitude and latitude are angles measured from the earths
center to a point on the Earths surface.

Latitude
Horizontal line
It is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds of

a point north or south of the Equator.

Often referred to as parallels.
The coordinate corresponds to latitude
On the Earth, latitude is measured as angular distance from
the equator.
In spherical coordinates, latitude is measured as the angular
distance from the North Pole

Latitude
At the North Pole,
=o
At the equator,
=
At the South Pole,
=

Longitude
Vertical line
It is the angular distance in degrees, minutes and seconds of a

point, East or West of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian

Often referred to as Meridians
Each longitude line measures 12,429.9 miles
The coordinate corresponds to longitude
is a measurement of angular distance from the horizontal
axis.

Longitude
the North pole
At
=
At the equator
=0 or
At the south pole
= -

Latitude &
Longitude

Distance between Lines

If we divide the circumference of the earth (approximately
25,000 miles) by 360 degrees, the distance on the
earth's surface for each one degree of latitude or
longitude is just over 69 miles, or 111 km.

GPS
Global Positioning System
Space-basedsatellite navigationsystem
Developed in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems
Provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on
or near the Earth

GPS
Any desired location can be found by entering its coordinates

in our GPS device.

We only need to know the latitude and longitude of that
location to know exactly where it is.
Today GPS is a network on 30 satellites

War Target Definition

Wars in the modern world rely more on the precision of
technology and weapons than on manpower

TheMilitary Grid Reference System(MGRS)is the geocoordinate standard used byNATOmilitaries for locating
points on the earth.

It locates a point more accurately than a common GPS device.

Format of MGRS Grid Squares

The MGRS divides the surface of the earth into bands of
squares of
longitude wide and
of latitude tall
It extends from 80 degrees south latitude to 84 degrees north latitude
o

Each square is formatted as a letter-number combination, with numbers

increasing from West to East from prime meridian near the International
Date Line
The letter code runs from C through X, omitting "I" and "O" to avoid
confusion with the digits 1 and 0, from South to North
The next two letters identify the 10 km grid square number within that
grid zone, where the first letter is the column and the second is the row
"16TDM" is the grid square for Chicago

Format of MGRS Coordinates

MGRS coordinates within the grid identified are handled as a series of
numerical data, presented as one number of 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 digits
These are called "n+n" coordinates. A 10-digit MGRS coordinate is a 5+5
coordinate and so on
The most common coordinate standard in MGRS is 4+4, which gives a
resolution of 10 meters
The first half of the coordinate counts the number of resolution increments
(10 meters for a 4+4 coordinate) east from the southwest corner of the grid
square.
The second half gives the number of resolution increments north.

MGRS of
USA

Advantages of MGRS Coordinates

While the most common use of GPS devices is turn-by-turn

navigation systems, MGRS is meant to be used in conjunction

with a separate map.

MGRS maps have square grids that use the same units of
measurement for east/west as they do for north/south.

The coordinates translate directly to distances on the ground,

making path and travel time estimates much easier.