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Steps of Abstraction

The Earth is a lumpy ball of rock careening through space. It is far too complicated to represent fully; you can’t view more than half of the 3D earth at once when viewing it on a 2D plane. We need to create abstractions to simplify the shape of the earth so we can map it in 2D.

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Visualizing the Geoid

This tool allows you to explore a 3D model of the geoid and compare it to the more simplified spheroid.

  • Don’t get lost in the weeds trying to figure it out, but it could help refine your conceptual model.