[ELI5] How do people measure of area of cities/countries, or irregular shapes in general?

215 views

[ELI5] How do people measure of area of cities/countries, or irregular shapes in general?

In: 0

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Oh, various ways. For instance if you’ve got a good map, lay a grid over it. Count the number of squares that are entirely inside the border and the number that are partly inside. Split the second number in half and add that to the first. Multiply by the area of one square, and you’ve got an estimate. For a better estimate, use a finer grid.

Anonymous 0 Comments

With the use the simplest possible two dimensional shape which is triangle. You start measuring areas by calculating distances of your triangle corners (calculating it’s area) and slowly you cover the area that you want to measure.