3 ms·
The standards mentioned in the article aren't really competing standards in the normal sense. It's simply that the continents drift relative to one another. So
by michaelt 2y ago
The standards mentioned in the article aren't really competing standards in the normal sense.
It's simply that the continents drift relative to one another. So if you want to make a map of Australia and the continent is drifting by 3 inches per year relative to other continents, you often want to define your map's coordinates as relative to some fixed point on your continent.
- lxgr 2y agoOh, the luxury of having a continent-sized country entirely located on (and far from the borders of) a single tectonic plate :)
- johannes1234321 2y agoSad if such a country moves about 1.5m in just 20 years and thus offsets any external reference (including satellites for GPS and imaging) https://www.sciencealert.com/australia-s-about-to-move-1-5-metres-to-the-north https://www.sciencealert.com/australia-s-about-to-move-1-5-m...
- lxgr 2y agoThat's true for all countries, since every single one is located on a moving tectonic plate! But some countries experience little "intra-country coordinate drift" per year, which can make local/regional geodetic datums attractive. That approach wouldn't work for the US, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault