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.

View slides in new tab

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.