ABSTRACT
Geospatial data representing real-world locations are three-dimensional (3-D), and modern measurement systems collect data in a physical 3-D environment. Time as the fourth dimension is acknowledged, but this book focuses on 3-D data. This chapter defines and describes the global spatial data model (GSDM) as a collection of mathematical concepts and procedures that can be used to collect, organize, store, process, manipulate, evaluate, and use 3-D spatial data. Measurements of quantities such as angles, length, time, current, mass, and temperature are used with known physical and geometrical relationships to compute spatial data components that are stored for subsequent use and reuse.
