Documentation | Help File | Glossary | Spheroid

Same as Ellipsoid. A term used to describe the shape of the earth, which resembles a “sphere” in geometry terms.

A reference spheroid is a mathematical figure, closely approaching a geoid in form and size, and determined by resolving an ellipse about the shorter (polar) axis of the earth. Spheroids are used as a surface of reference for geodetic surveys of large sections of the Earth (such as WGS 1984).