ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Stereoplotter

Okay, kiddo, have you ever played with play-doh and tried to make a little model of a mountain or a house? Well, a stereoplotter is kind of like an advanced version of that!

It's a special machine that helps people who work with maps and pictures to make really accurate 3D models of the Earth's surface. It does this by looking at two different images of the same place, taken from slightly different angles, and then putting them together.

Just like how when you close one eye and then the other, things in the world look a little bit different from each angle. But when you use both of your eyes together, it gives you a fuller picture.

So the stereoplotter works kind of like having two eyes: it uses one camera to take a picture from one angle and another camera to take a picture from a slightly different angle. Then, using special technology, it puts those two pictures together to make a 3D model of the thing it was looking at.

It might sound weird, but that's actually really important for all kinds of people who need to understand what the surface of the Earth looks like in different places, like city planners, geologists, and cartographers. They can use the models from the stereoplotter to make maps, build models of buildings, and even study how different parts of the ground move over time.

So, in short, a stereoplotter is a machine that helps people to make really accurate 3D models of the Earth's surface by using two pictures of the same place from different angles. Cool, right?