The implementation of a referential that describes positions in the terrestrial surface, or near it, is divided in two phases: the definition (Reference System) and the materialization (Reference Frame). The positioning techniques that use artificial satellites, like GPS (Global Positioning System) and GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), need to use reference frames, which materialize well-defined reference systems. These techniques have been used frequently in geodynamics activities, because of the high precision provided, which is essential to these applications. For such techniques are available the realizations of WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984), of PZ90 (Parametry Zemli 1990) and of the several ITRS (IERS -International Earth Rotation Service- Terrestrial Reference System). In these activities it is frequently needed to compare solutions materialized in different frames, which can be associated to different epochs. For that, it should be used the generalized Helmert transformation which is appropriate for 4D applications. This article presents the most relevant characteristics of this transformation, the available transformation parameters and the possible versions that it can assume, exemplifying them with applications.
Generalized Helmert Transformation; Velocity field; Transformation Parameters; 4D Geodesy
