Animating Three-D Concepts in Geodesy

Approximately fifty percent of the population cannot visualize three-dimensional concepts from a two-dimensional drawing. In casual surveys, it appears that this percentage is true even in spatially related fields such as surveying/geomatics. The inability to visualize three-dimensional concepts may affect even the brightest of students in such ways as hindering their ability to understand the underlying concepts. This paper explores using computer animation to help students visualize, and thus understand, three-dimensional concepts.