The presentation will begin

Working with
at 9AM Pacific Time
Map Projections and
Coordinate Systems in
ArcGIS
Presenter: Melita Kennedy
ESRI Redlands, California
 Help! My data
doesnt line up!

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Seminar Overview
Topics
What are geographic and projected coordinate systems?
Identifying an unknown coordinate system
Warning messages
Format
Each topic includes a software demonstration, review and
question and answer period

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

What are geographic
and projected
coordinate systems?

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Geographic coordinate systems
Define 3D coordinate system
Based on the earth's surface
Contain:
Angular unit of measure
Prime meridian
Datum which contains
Spheroid
X' values between 180 and +180
Y' values between 90 and +90
WGS 1984, NAD 1983, and ED 1950 are geographic
coordinate systems

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Geographic coordinate systems

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Datums
Network of control points, tied to the earth's
surface
Terms datum and geographic coordinate system
often used interchangeably
Adding further information to datum
Unit of measure
Prime meridian
creates a complete geographic coordinate
system.

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Projected coordinate systems
Define a 2D, planar coordinate system
Contain
Geographic coordinate system
Map projection
Parameters needed by the projection
Linear unit of measure
UTM and State Plane are projected coordinate
systems
Term projection is often used, but is incorrect

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Projected coordinate systems

Data
X X+
Y+ Y+
usually here

X X+
Y Y

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Review and Q & A
Geographic coordinate systems
Datums
Projected coordinate systems

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 Identifying an
unknown
coordinate system

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Why doesn't data line up?
No coordinate system information
ArcMap can automatically convert between coordinate
systems if information is available
Incorrect coordinate system definition
Infrequent, be aware of the possibility

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Scenario
Street data for Indiana and Michigan
Indiana and Michigan data in the same coordinate
system
New Ohio data does not line up
Check the coordinate systems

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Checking the coordinate systems
Expand layers
Each layer is listed
Select layer to see
coordinate system
name

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Where is unknown data?

Different geographic
4100123 coordinate systems
4100000

300000

100000

500000 1500000
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Where is unknown data?

4100123
4100000

300000

Different projected
100000 coordinate systems

500000 1500000
Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.
Where is unknown data?

4100123
4100000

Different units
of measure
300000

100000

500000 1500000
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 Software
Demonstration

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Review
Why doesnt data line up?
Checking the coordinate systems
Where is unknown data?

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Identifying a coordinate system
Set data frame to new coordinate system
See if known data line up with unknown data
ArcMap can only reproject data if coordinate system is
known
If first one doesnt work, try several others

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Does it work? YES
Remove layer from ArcMap
Assign coordinate system of the data frame to
the layer
ArcCatalog
ArcToolbox

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Does it work? NO
Research for more information
Metadata
Data provider or source
Similar data types (1:24k quad)
Common coordinate systems used in the area

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Finding the coordinate system
Each data type lists coordinate system in a different
way
Look for terms spatial reference, projection, or
coordinate system
View in ArcCatalog
Select a data set
Click Metadata tab
Click the Spatial tab
To change, open the data's properties

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

 Software
Demonstration

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Review and Q & A
Identifying coordinate system
What to do if it does or doesnt work
Finding the coordinate system

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Warning messages,
oh my!

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Missing spatial reference message
When adding data to ArcMap, may get warning
that data cannot be reprojected

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GCS_Assumed_Geographic_1
Fake coordinate system
Assigned to shapefiles if values are
X = +/-180
Y = +/-90
Allows data to be projected in ArcMap
Has no defined transformations

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Warning: Different GCS
When adding data to ArcMap, may get warning
that you may need to set transformation

To turn back on:

<ArcGISHOME>Utilities\AdvancedArcMapSettings.exe

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Setting geographic transformation
Open data frame
properties
Select Coordinate
System tab
Click
Transformations

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Transformations dialog
Convert from:
Lists geographic coordinate systems of the layers
Into:
Data frames
geographic coordinate
system
Using:
Predefined
transformations

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Coordinates are out of bounds
Occurs with geodatabase data
Spatial domain of target feature class is too small

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Coordinate system vs. Spatial reference
Coordinate system
Projected or geographic
Spatial reference
Coordinate system
Spatial domain
Minimum and Maximum X,Y
Precision or Scale

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Spatial Domain

12,000,000
State Plane
(feet)
4,000,000
UTM
(meters)

10,000

Decimal
90 Degrees

180 10,000 4,000,000

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

 Software
Demonstration

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Review and Q & A
Coordinate system warnings
Missing spatial reference
GCS_Assumed_Geographic_1
Warning: Different geographic coordinate system
Setting a geographic transformation
Coordinates are out of bounds
Coordinate system vs. Spatial reference

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Resources
ESRI Knowledge Base (support.esri.com)
Web resource links
Document ID #: 17420
Information on geographic transformations
Document ID #: 24893
ArcGIS help
Table of contents > Map projections

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

For more information
ESRI Virtual Campus
Understanding Map Projections and
Coordinate Systems

Product Book
Understanding Map Projections

Copyright 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.