The interaction between error ellipses and characteristic oscillations of geodetic networks

A geodetic network can be described as a vibrating structural system in civil engineering. The equations of motion lead to an eigenvalue problem. The solutions are frequencies and mode shapes of the vibration. It is shown that this problem is identical with the eigenvalue problem for the cofactor matrix Q within a network adjustment by observation equations. This enables to interprete the systematic behaviour of accuracy measures in geodetic networks. -Authors