Hybrid Geoid Model: Theory and Application in Brazil.

Daniel Arana,Gabriel N Guimarães,Paulo O Camargo

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201720160802

Daniel Arana, Gabriel N Guimarães + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201720160802

Copy DOI

Abstract

Determination of the ellipsoidal height by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is becoming better known and used for purposes of leveling with the aid of geoid models. However, the disadvantage of this method is the quality of the geoid models, which degrade heights and limit the application of the method. In order to provide better quality in transforming height using GNSS leveling, this research aims to develop a hybridization methodology of gravimetric geoid models EGM08, MAPGEO2015 and GEOIDSP2014 for the State of São Paulo, providing more consistent models with GNSS technology. Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networks were used to obtain the corrector surface, based on differences between geoid model undulations and the undulations obtained by GNSS tracking in benchmarks. The experiments showed that the most suitable interpolation for correction modeling is the linear RBF. Checkpoints indicate that the geoid hybrid models feature root mean square deviation ± 0.107, ± 0.104 and ± 0.098 m, respectively. The results shows an improvement of 30 to 40% in consistencies compared with the gravimetric geoids, providing users with better quality in transformation of geometric to orthometric heights.

Highlights

The altimetric component is fundamental for a variety of scientific and engineering applications, such as topographic and geodesic surveying, coastal studies, engineering projects, dams, irrigation and other things
The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) reference surface has no connection with the Earth’s gravity field, equal values of geometric height can occur in different levels or uneven
This paper describes a case study showing the methodology applied to obtain a hybrid geoid model in a region very important economically in Brazil, the State of São Paulo.The corrector surfaces were generated by neural networks Radial Basis Function (RBF) and the Kriging method

Summary

Introduction

The altimetric component is fundamental for a variety of scientific and engineering applications, such as topographic and geodesic surveying, coastal studies, engineering projects, dams, irrigation and other things. The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) reference surface (ellipsoid) has no connection with the Earth’s gravity field, equal values of geometric height can occur in different levels or uneven. GUIMARÃES height values may occur on the same equipotential surface of the gravity field (Freitas and Blitzkow 1999). For this reason, many altimetric applications cannot directly use the height component from GNSS. In the first place the geometric height must be reduced to normal, orthometric or dynamic height, and usually quasi-geoid or geoid models are used to aid this conversion ( Featherstone 2000, Kotsakis and Sideris 2001, Torge 2001, Seeber 2003)

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion