Spatial Referencing
Coordinate Systems
- Associate coordinate-tuples with points in Rn.
Goal
- Associate coordinate-tuples with positions in the “space” of an object.
Method
- Embed Rn in “space”. Then points in Rn will be associated with positions in “space”.
- Simple Embedding:
- Select an Origin and orthogonal axis directions in “space”.
- Then pick unit points on each axis.
Problem
- The simple embedding method is not always possible:
- For example, in the Geocentric system, the origin is somewhere in the center of the Earth - You can’t put your finger on it!