Vocabulary - Padlet

•diameter - The width of a circle or sphere through its center.

•elevation - The vertical distance above sea level of a point on
Earth's surface.

•equatorial diameter - The distance across a planet from one
end to the other through the planet's center at the equator.

•oblate spheroid - A sphere that is flattened at the poles and
bulges at the equator so that its polar diameter is slightly less
than its equatorial diameter.

•remote sensing - Making observations of a body without
making physical contact.

If you were going on a road trip how would you navigate?

GPS: Global Positioning System

•Why is GPS important ?

• Keep airplanes on track in the sky

• Assist military and emergency crews

• Help farmers plant and harvest their fields

• Vehicles that drive themselves use GPS technology

• Mark the locations of many places and objects on Earth

• Plants, animals, habitats, and geological features

• Helps scientists understand weather patterns, climate, ecosystems,

and geological processes

Remote Sensing

(modern technologies)

​Brain Break

Remote
Sensing

•Some technologies used
for navigation and map
making produce images
from data using GPS
data.
•Sensors are located at
large distances from the
target.

•Like on airplanes and
satellites

•They provide a
high-altitude view of
Earth’s surface, allowing
cameras and sensors to
collect data over large
areas.

Earth’s dimensions

• Remote sensing technologies have increased the accuracy of measurements of Earth’s dimensions.

• Although a photo of Earth in space appears to show it as a sphere, Earth is not a perfect sphere.

• Earth is flattened a very small amount from north to south, so that its equatorial
  diameter is greater than its polar diameter.

• The diameter that intersects with Earth’s equator is about 12,756km, but the diameter
  that runs from the north pole to the south pole is about 43km shorter.

• Earth is slightly fatter around the middle; this

shape is called an oblate spheroid.

Maps

•Maps are graphical representations
of information about Earth’s surface
features.

•Remote sensing provides so much
information for each location that it
cannot all fit on one map.

•Mapmakers, or cartographers, create
many different kinds of maps with
different types of information that
might be useful for different
purposes.

Representing a 3-Dimensional World

•Some maps, called topographic maps,
contain information about elevation.

•Points of equal elevation can be connected with lines called contour lines.

•Using contour lines allows topographic maps to show the shapes of land features like mountains and valleys.

Navigation

GPS devices calculate precise values for

latitude, longitude, and elevation.