Geodesy - The Science of the Earth's Shape, Position in Space, and Gravity

[DonRocks]

For those who don't want to invest the time in this podcast (and it's well-worth listening to), it's pronounced "Gee Odyssey."

"Geodesy: The Invisible Backbone of Navigation" NOAA Ocean Podcast Episode 12 on oceanservice.noaa.gov

Takeaway terms:

Oblate Spheroid
Geoid Model
International Terrestrial Reference Frame
GRAV-D (hopefully coming in 2022)

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Question: If Geodesy is so crucial, what about "East is East, and West is West, and Never the Twain Shall Meet?" which, ironically, was written by Rudyard Kipling twenty years after the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

I guess the answer is, "A demand for much greater accuracy" (imagine being lost in the icy mountains with just a cell phone).

The "Golden Spike" of the First Transcontinental Railroad was driven down, in Promontory Summit, Utah Terrirory, on May 10, 1869 (approximately 100 years before man walked on the moon). 

Note: Even if the two ends of the railroad (Omaha, NE/Council Bluffs, IA and Oakland Long Wharf, Oakland, CA)  began work at the same time, at both oceans, it makes sense that the Golden Spike would be skewed towards the West, since the Sierra Nevada (Donner Pass) and the Rocky Mountain (South Pass) ranges would be harder to traverse than the Appalachians (numerous passes on numerous railroads had already been completed). Incidentally, these are the three major mountain ranges in the U.S.:

Aside: The centroid (a "centroid" can be loosely defined as the point on an irregularly shaped piece of cardboard that you can balance on your fingertip) of the continental U.S. is 39'50"" N, 98'35"" W, or about 2.6 miles NW of Lebanon, KS. The "Geographic Center" of all 50 states is 44'58"" N, 103'46" W, or about 20 miles N of Belle Fourche, SD.