Abstract
Geoidal Model for the City of Albuquerque
Track: Surveying
Author(s): Cliff Wilkie
ArcGIS 9.2 proved to be an excellent tool for developing a much needed geoidal model for the City of Albuquerque. The mountains on the eastern edge of Albuquerque create a gravity anomaly that is not modeled adequately by current nationwide geoidal models. Existing models do not have adequate data point density to clearly depict the short wave gravity characteristics of the mountainous area. The City’s Albuquerque Geodetic Reference System (AGRS) has 600 points with both GPS derived ellipsoidal heights and precise leveled orthometric heights. These provided a foundation for developing a regional geoidal model that much more closely models the particular gravity anomalies of the metropolitan area of the City. This model is proving to be extremely useful to local surveying and engineering companies as a means of deriving orthometric heights directly from GPS observations while diminishing the need for labor intensive and costly conventional leveling operations.
Cliff Wilkie
City of Albuquerque
One Civic Plaza - Room B2041
Albuquerque , New Mexico 87103
United States
Phone: 505-768-3609
E-mail: Cwilkie@cabq.gov