How can I plot Earth (wgs84 Ellipsoid)?

I have tried

[x,y,z] = wgs84Ellipsoid('meters');
figure
surf(x,y,z)
axis equal

However,

[x,y,z] = wgs84Ellipsoid('meters');

is incorrect ("Too many output arguments")

[Geoff Hayes]

Matthes - according to https://www.mathworks.com/help/map/ref/wgs84ellipsoid.html the function wgs84ellipsoid returns a referenceEllipsoid object and so the error message makes sense since only one output parameter is possible

 E = wgs84ellipsoid('meters');

So that explains the error message. As for trying to draw/plot this, I'm not sure how you would do that (or if it is even possible).

[Matthes Müller]

Alright, thanks a lot anyway!

Answer 1

[Amy Haskins]

To just get a sense for the shape of the ellipsoid, you could use the values from the wgs84ellipsoid in conjunction with MATLAB's ellipsoid function as follows:

 ellipsoid(0,0,0,E.SemimajorAxis, E.SemimajorAxis, E.SemiminorAxis)

Alternatively, if you want a 3D globe, you could follow the doc example here:

 https://www.mathworks.com/help/map/examples/plotting-a-3-d-dome-as-a-mesh-over-a-globe.html

Replacing the grs80 ellipsoid with the one returned by wgs84Ellipsoid.

[Matthes Müller]

Perfect, thank you!