Claim register
Claim Evaluation
Every claim is stated exactly, traced to its origin, and evaluated against the best supporting and the best opposing case. Scientific claims must expose their full reasoning chain — observation, measurement, calculation, prediction, physical test, result, replication — and declare per-model predictions BEFORE the result is shown. Appeals to authority (“science says”, “experts agree”, “the math proves it”, “settled”) are not evidence. Confidence is authored, not tallied. Preserve disagreement rather than force a conclusion.
- Incomplete — primary sources not yet ingestedThe universal comparison scaffold below is a placeholder. Do not treat empty sections as evidence.
Surveying and geodetic networks assume — and measure — a curved Earth
UnresolvedNational geodetic datums (NAD83, ETRS89, ITRF) treat the Earth as an ellipsoid and record surveyed distances that would otherwise not close on a plane.
Origin: Topic acknowledged; primary sources not yet ingested into this record.
Best supporting case
Awaiting primary-source ingest before an authored comparison.
Best opposing case
Awaiting primary-source ingest before an authored comparison.
Evidence
Universal comparison · who claims what, and how each model explains it
ExperimentalWho makes the claim: National geodetic services; IERS.Scope: See exact wording for scope and definitions; further scoping to follow with primary sources.
Flat / enclosed model
What it says: Corrections may be conventions of the reference system rather than proof of curvature.
Required assumptions: earth-oblate-spheroid, coordinate-system, instrument-calibration
Strongest objection: Awaiting primary-source ingest.
Falsifier: A large-scale independent survey performed on a plane model whose closure errors are as small as ellipsoidal ones.
Globe model
What it says: The residual closure errors of continental triangulation networks match the ellipsoid to millimetres.
Required assumptions: earth-oblate-spheroid, coordinate-system, instrument-calibration
Strongest objection: Awaiting primary-source ingest.
Falsifier: A published continental-scale survey with closure errors matching a plane model within its stated uncertainty.
Circular-reasoning check
No circular-reasoning risks identified in the authored evidence chain.
Knowledge library · claim → equation → law → assumptions
Laws / principles
— none —
Theories / models
Hidden assumptions
— none recorded —
Missing evidence
- Primary sources for the flat-model explanation.
- Primary sources for the globe-model explanation.
- At least one reproducible physical test with independent replication.
Contradictions
— none recorded —
Reproducibility
- Not yet documented in this record.
Confidence · not_rated
This record is a structural placeholder. Confidence will only be rated once primary sources and reasoning chain are authored.
Confidence is authored, not tallied. It reflects primary vs. secondary evidence, source independence, methodology, conflicts, and reproducibility — not the count of sources.