ESICS ON AN ELLIP

Area of a geodesic polygon

Software Implementation
Rhea Joy B. Celzo
Wendy D. Mangampo
Krismae P. Moreno
Jemie P. Serrano

AREA OF A
GEODESIC
POLYGON
A geodesic
polygon is a polygon whose
sides are geodesics. The area of such a
polygon may be found by first computing
the area between a geodesic segment and
the equator, i.e., the area of the
quadrilateral AFHB. Once this area is
known, the area of a polygon may be
computed by summing the contributions
from all the edges of the polygon.

Here we develop the formula for the

areaS12ofAFHB. The area of any
closed region of the ellipsoid is

where dT is an element of surface area

and K is the Gaussian curvature.

Now the GaussBonnet theorem

applied to a geodesic polygon states

Where,

is the geodesic excess andjis the

exterior angle at vertexj.

Multiplying the equation for (gamma) by

R22, where R2 is the authalic radius, and
subtracting this from the equation for T
gives

where the value of K for an ellipsoid

has been substituted.

Applying this formula to the

quadrilateralAFHB, noting that = 2
1, and performing the integral
overgives

where the integral is over the geodesic

line (so thatis implicitly a function
of).

Converting this into an integral over,

we obtain

where

and the notationE12= 2 1is

used for the geodesic excess.

The area of a geodesic polygon is given

by summing S12 over its edges. This result
holds provided that the polygon does not
include a pole; if it does 2 R22 must be
added to the sum. If the edges are
specified by their vertices, then a
convenient expression for E12 is

SOFTWARE
IMPLEMENTATION
An implementation of Vincenty's
S is provided by NGS
algorithm in Fortran
(2012). Version 3.0 includes Vincenty's
treatment of nearly antipodal points
(Vincenty 1975b). Vincenty's original
formulas are used in many geographic
information systems. Except for nearly
antipodal points (where the inverse
method fails to converge), this method is
accurate to about 0.1 mm for the WGS84
ellipsoid.

 The algorithms given in Karney (2013) are

included in GeographicLib (Karney 2015).
These are accurate to about 15 nanometers
for the WGS84 ellipsoid. Implementations in
several languages (C++, C, Fortran, Java,
JavaScript, Python, Matlab, and Maxima) are
provided. In addition to solving the basic
geodesic problem, this library can return m 12,
M12, M21, and S12. The library includes a
command-line
utility,
GeodSolve,
for
geodesic calculations. As of version 4.9.1, the
PROJ.4 library for cartographic projections
uses the C implementation for geodesic
calculations. This is exposed in the
command-line utility, geod, and in the library

 The solution of the geodesic problems

in terms of elliptic integrals is included
in GeographicLib (in C++ only), e.g.,
via the -E option to GeodSolve. This
method of solution is about 23 times
slower than using series expansions;
however it provides accurate solutions
for ellipsoids of revolution with b/a
[1100, 100]

 GeodSolve performs geodesic

calculations for an arbitrary ellipsoid of
revolution. The shortest path between
two points on the ellipsoid at (lat1,lon1)
and (lat2,lon2) is called thegeodesic; its
length iss12and the geodesic from point
1 to point 2 has azimuthsazi1andazi2at
the two end points. There are two
standard geodesic problems:
Direct: given [lat1 lon1 azi1 s12],
find [lat2 lon2 azi2];
Inverse: given [lat1 lon1 lat2 lon2],

 Azimuths are given in degrees clockwise from north. The

distances12is in meters.
The additional quantities computed are:
a12, the arc length on the auxiliary sphere (),
m12, the reduced length (m),
M12andM21, the geodesic scales,
S12, the area between the geodesic and the equator
(m2).
The ellipsoid is specified by its equatorial radius,a, and its
flattening,f= (ab)/a, wherebis the polar semi-axis.
The default values for these parameters correspond to the
WGS84 ellipsoid. The method is accurate for 99f
0.99 (corresponding to 0.01b/a 100). Note thatfis
negative for a prolate ellipsoid (b>a) and that it can be
entered as a fraction, e.g., 1/297.
GeodSolve is accurate to about 15nanometers (for the
WGS84 ellipsoid) and gives solutions for the inverse
problem for any pair of points.

Geodesic lines, circles,

envelopes in Google Maps
(instructions)
Thepageallows you to draw accurate ellipsoidal

geodesics on Google Maps. You can specify the

geodesic in one of two forms:
Thedirectproblem: specify a starting point, an
azimuth and a distance aslat1 lon1 azi1 s12as
degrees and meters.
Theinverseproblem: specify the two end points
aslat1 lon1 lat2 lon2as degrees; this finds the
shortest path between the two points.
Click on the corresponding "compute" button.
The display then shows. The requested geodesic
as ablue line; the WGS84 ellipsoid model is

 The requested geodesic as a blue line;

the WGS84 ellipsoid model is used.
The geodesic circle as agreen curve; this
shows the locus of points a
distances12fromlat1, lon1.
The geodesic envelopes asred curves; all
the geodesics emanating fromlat1,
lon1are tangent to the envelopes
(providing they are extended far
enough). The number of solutions to the
inverse problem changes depending on
whetherlat2, lon2lies inside the