Geodesy and other disciplines

For the relation in between surveying and geodesy it is important that surveying constitutes the practice of positioning and geodesy is the theoretical foundation of surveying.

Considerably in scientific and technical aspects, disciplines of geodetic information, positions or other knowledge are needed. The information of geodesy and other disciplines³³ is essential

33Refer to KRAKIWSKY AND VANICEK [1976], (U.S.) COMMITTEE ON GEODESY [1978], MUELLER [1978], HIEBER AND GUYENNE [1978], and RINNER [1979] Cited in PETER VANICEK (1986 p. 20).

which the author intends by clear citing of data from original version and provides the conclusion after the description as following (VANICEK, 1986 p. 20):

a. Mapping: It is well understood that there is a need for an areal network of

appropriately distributed point (geodetic control) of known horizontal and vertical positions for the production of maps ranging from small scale maps of entire countries to large scale maps used by municipalities. The establishment of this control is clearly an important geodetic task.

b. Urban management: In the urban environment, the locations of man’s creations, such as underground utilities, must be defined and documented for future reference.

c. Engineering projects: During the building of large structures, such as dams, bridges, and factories, it is necessary to lay out the various components of these structures in predetermined locations. For this purpose, coordinates of one kind or another are used, so the availability of control points is naturally desirable. As well, it is often necessary to know the movements of the ground and water levels prior to, during and after the construction. In case of dams, water tunnels, irrigation projects and the like, the exact shape of equipotential surfaces of the gravity field should be known.

d. Boundary demarcation: the rigorous definition of international and intranational (provincial and state) boundaries is of paramount importance. Emphasis has also recently been placed on the speedy and accurate description oil and gas leases, even in remote and inhospitable parts of the world as the arctic, the North Sea, and various continental shelves. The positioning and staking out of these boundaries is most economically son by relating them to a framework of points with known horizontal coordinates.

e. Ecology: It has been realized in the past few decades that it is necessary to study the effects of human actions on the environment. One such effect is the movement of the ground caused by the removal of underground resources (including water, oil, and mineral) or subsurface disposal of waste. The detection and monitoring of these movements is a geodetic problem

f. Environmental management: It has been recognized that the establishment of environmental data banks, to serve as integrated information systems for transportation, land use, community and social services, land titles extracts, assessment of tax data, and population statistics, should be based on land parcels whose locations are uniquely defined in terms of coordinates.

g. Geography: All the positional information needed in geography is provided by geodesy.

Even though the accuracy of positional or other geometrical information used by geographers in generally much lower than that needed in the fields described above, this information is of a global character that only geodesy can satisfy.

h. Planetology: It can be argued that this is a part of either astronomy or geophysics. Be that as it may, planetology uses methods for studying the geometry, gravity fields, and deformations of planets that are identical with the extraterrestrial methods used to

geodesy. Thus, practically all of geodesy is applicable to planetology and geodesy, some geodesists regard the determination of the shape and size of planets and their gravity fields as part of geodesy.

i. Hydrography: Some consider this field to be a part of oceanography, while others make it a special (marine) branch of surveying; either way, it has a somewhat special relation with geodesy. It may be understood as the practice of positioning at sea, combined with depth sounding.

As mentioned before, the author considers almost all those subjects to apply for flood management in the project. Adding a new summary on this research is relevant as follows:

From my point of view, geodesy is important in theoretical and practical tasks for many useful interdisciplinary characters – surveying foundation, geo-information, position on the earth etc.

Those subjects will lead to a useful guide to flood catastrophic observations and the flood management plans.

Table 6.1 Geodesy and other disciplines

Mapping Technical response utilizes the topographic analysis and flood hazard maps are created in terms of flood planning.

Urban

management

This subject is essential because of the flood impacts for high density human settlement areas. The design of river bed will use suitable material in urban area. Urban management is involved in infrastructure and facilities having geodesy support to solve the flooding issues of future settlement areas or public infrastructures (hospitals, schools and service buildings).

Engineering projects

This process is relevant for the creation of a new river construction combined with technical tasks and flood management requiring the boundary cooperation in terms of geodetic tasks. A cooperation across boundaries will allow for clear responsibilities in flood prevention and construction design.

Ecology and environmental management

These factors are supportive methods. Reduction of ecological systems will be obviously presented by monitoring with remote sensing equipment such as forest and wet land management.

Geography and geo-information

These main advances are the most essential tools to describe the position of infrastructure elements on the earth (coordinates, latitude and longitude, Geographic information system (GIS) and The Global Positioning System (GPS), etc.

Planetology The gravimetry, with its knowledge on the gravity flow of water is one crucial factor for a new artificial river’s inclination. The vital knowledge can reduce the cost of investment drastically.

Hydrography

Flooding and other relevant incidents such as tidal effects and rising sea level that submerges land are supported by data from flood analysis. The depth and width of the river will be calculated with the combination of geodetic works and hydrological management

All that information is crucial for flood management; it is necessary to use geodetic technology and geo-data to address the construction of the river, environmental issues and the changing land use patterns. Additionally, soil surveying, geomorphology and geology should be considered as well in the foundation of the geodetic supporting.