[Proj] The world of ECEF aka geocentric coordinates

[Karney, Charles]

> I personally find the Wiki stuff useless and misleading.  The proper
> reference is Bomford's Geodesy (Editions 1 thru 4), and not the
> other trivia listed at the end.  The term ECEF is new-age baloney.
> The Geocentric Coordinate System is the original and decades-old
> terminology recognized in the classical literature.  The notation
> used in the Wiki equations is just more gobbledygook, as Bomford
> established the proper (and world-wide recognized) notation about 50
> years ago.

The Wikipedia entry on "Geodetic system" is indeed weak.  The
inclusion of half-baked Matlab code is hardly encouraging.  In fact,
the version of the page before this was dropped in (on March 1, 2007)
seems OK.

On ECEF vs Geocentric: I welcome a return to original terminology
instead of having a multitude of names for the same thing.  I have the
Google version of Bomford (1952 edition).  Does he define "Geocentric
Coordinate System"?  (I couldn't find it there.)  If not, is there
another authoritative reference?

--
Charles Karney <ckarney at sarnoff.com>
Sarnoff Corporation, Princeton, NJ 08543-5300

URL: http://charles.karney.info
Tel: +1 609 734 2312
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