Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Works Cited
Works Cited
Cordoba, Nicolas E. , and Kara A. Sarkis. The Surveyor's Theodite Formula.
Orlando: Orange County Press, 2012. Print
Jains, Malila. "How Surveyors Measure and
Calculate Angles." . Today's Modern Surveyor
Mar. 2012: 30-48. Print
Sanders, Gregory B. Understanding Satellites and Global Positioning Systems. n.d. Web
27 Feb. 2012.
MLA Research Paper
Emily
TenHulzen
Interactive
Technology
March
4, 2014
Can You Find Me Now?
How is a Nintendo Wii game console
able to determine the location of the Wii remote while a player interacts with
a game? The purpose is triangulation, a process that determines the location of
an object by measuring the angles from two or more fixed points.
Surveyors often use triangulation to
measure distance. Starting at a known location and elevation, surveyors measure
a length to create a baseline and then use theodolite to measure an angle to an
unknown point from each side of the baseline. (Jains 30-48)
The length of the baseline and the two known angles allow a computer or person
to determine the location of a third point. [1]
Similarly, the Nintendo Wii game console
uses triangulation to determine the location of the Wii Remote. A player places
a sensor bar, which contains to infrared transmitters, near or on top of a
television. While the player uses the Wii Remote, the Wii game console
determines the remote’s location by calculating the distance and angles between
the Wii remote and the two transmitters on the sensor bar. Determining the
location of the Wii Remote is relatively simple because the sensor bar contains
only two fixed points: the transmitters.
A more complex application of
triangulation occurs in a global positioning system (GPS). A GPS consists of
earth-based receivers that accept and analyze signals sent by satellites to
determine a receiver’s geographic location. GPS receivers, found in handheld
navigation devices and many vehicles, to determine their location relative to
at least three geostationary satellites. According to Sanders, the satellites
are the fixed points in the triangulation formula (Understanding Satellites and Global Positioning Systems) .
The next time you pass a surveyor, play
a Nintendo Wii, or follow a route suggested by a vehicle’s navigation system,
keep in mind that none of it might have been possible without the concept of
triangulation.
[1] Cordoba and Sarkis state that
electronic theodolites calculate angles automatically and then send the
calculated angles to the computer for analysis (25) .
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