Measurement Method of Strata Attitude Based on Google Earth

In order to solve the problems of high difficulty and low efficiency in measuring strata attitude in harsh natural condition areas, a method to fulfill the fast batch calculation of shallow strata attitude in any area of the globe through C# programming was proposed by using the digital terrain and image data provided by the Google Earth. This method takes the Google Earth as its basic 3D geographic information platform and uses Google Earth COM API to interact with the Google Earth, and it can dynamically get the coordinates of strata boundary points. Geodetic coordinates of the WGS84 ellipsoid are converted into plane coordinates through the Gauss projection transform, and a fitted plane equation for strata is obtained through the least-square fitting method. Based on the fitted plane equation, strata attitude can be obtained through calculation, and the 3D visualization of measurement results are realized through KML. An application experiment shows that this proposed method is effective and efficient for data acquisition and real-time adjustment of strata boundary points. Moreover, the calculation results can be presented visually and vividly through visualization.