Figure of the Earth
![An oblate spheroid](/Images/godic/202501/13/OblateSpheroid2130.PNG")
![](/Images/godic/202501/13/Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped2130.png")
2130.JPG")
![Scale drawing of the oblateness of the 2003 IERS reference ellipsoid. The outer edge of the dark blue line is an ellipse with the same eccentricity as that of the Earth, with north at the top. For comparison, the outer edge of light blue area is a circle of diameter equal to the minor axis. The red line denotes the Karman line and yellow area, the range of the International Space Station.](/Images/godic/202501/13/Earth_oblateness_to_scale.svg2130.png")
The expression figure of the Earth has various meanings in geodesy according to the way it is used and the precision with which the Earth's size and shape is to be defined. While the sphere is a close approximation of the true figure of the Earth and satisfactory for many purposes, geodesists have developed a number of models to represent a closer approximation to the shape of the Earth.