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GPS coordinates actually account for the motion of the Earth's tectonic plates. The problem is that it's a highly approximate model that doesn't accurately refl
by AlotOfReading 2y ago
GPS coordinates actually account for the motion of the Earth's tectonic plates. The problem is that it's a highly approximate model that doesn't accurately reflect areas like Australia very well.
There's a great visualizer of the coordinate velocity from the Earthscope team:
https://www.unavco.org/software/visualization/GPS-Velocity-Viewer/GPS-Velocity-Viewer.html https://www.unavco.org/software/visualization/GPS-Velocity-V...
- meindnoch 2y ago>GPS coordinates actually account for the motion of the Earth's tectonic plates. What?
- 867-5309 2y agoaccounts for (something), phrasal verb meaning "considers; incorporates; takes on board" as opposed to the more obvious "gives rise to; is responsible for". I had to read twice too
- meindnoch 2y agoYeah, I know what "accounts for" means. I just can't comprehend how GPS coordinates could account for the tectonic plates' motion. Never heard of such a thing, and can't see how it would work on a conceptual, mathematical level.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- n4r9 2y agoThey don't, and you're right it wouldn't make sense.
- janzer 2y agoI'm pretty positive that is showing the reverse, i.e. how much a given "location" is moving using gps coordinates. Not adjusting the gps coordinates to refer to a constant "location".
- jandrewrogers 2y agoGPS coordinates do not account for tectonic motion. It is a synthetic spheroidal model that is not fixed to any point on Earth. The meridians are derived from the average motion of many objects, some of which are not on the planetary surface. The motion of tectonic plates can be calculated relative to this spatial reference system but they are not part of the spatial reference system and would kind of defeat the purpose if they were.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoThe corrections are incorporated into the datum. WGS84 is updated every 6 months to follow ITRF by changing the tracking station locations as the plates move around.
- meindnoch 2y agoThat's about correcting the ground stations' coordinates. It doesn't help keeping your house's GPS coordinates fixed. If the tectonic plate your house is built on moves a meter over the course of a decade, then your house's GPS coords will change in the lower decimals, and eventually your government's land registry will need to update those values.
- paganel 2y agoHopefully there are still governments that don’t keep such in detail land registries, or any land registries at all, for that matter. Some of us don’t want the State to see everything, at almost every moment in time.