Geodetic Coordinates¶

Geodetic coordinates account for the WGS84 ellipsoid, giving more accurate surface positions. The forward transform is closed-form; the inverse uses Bowring's iterative method:

import jax.numpy as jnp
from astrojax.coordinates import (
    position_geodetic_to_ecef,
    position_ecef_to_geodetic,
)

# Boulder, CO
x_geod = jnp.array([-105.0, 40.0, 1655.0])
x_ecef = position_geodetic_to_ecef(x_geod, use_degrees=True)
x_back = position_ecef_to_geodetic(x_ecef, use_degrees=True)

Geocentric vs Geodetic

At the equator and poles, geocentric and geodetic latitudes are identical. The maximum difference (~0.19°) occurs near 45° latitude, corresponding to ~21 km on the surface.