Spatial Reference used in the Philippines

In the Philippines, there are two basic datums, the World Geodetic System (WGS) of 1984 and the Luzon
Datum created in 1911.

WGS84 - WGS84 is a commonly used worldwide datum developed from satellite measurements of the
earth. It is rapidly becoming the preferred datum around the world. Satellite images are often published using this
datum. Unlike most datums, the origin for WGS84 is the center of the earth. The ellipsoid is also called WGS84.
Transformation parameters to convert from most national or local datums to WGS84 are published and can often
be found in GIS software.
Luzon 1911 - The Luzon datum of 1911 is the most commonly used datum for the Philippines. Most of
the map series published by the Philippines National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA)
use the Luzon datum. Any spatial data created from digitized maps will most likely be based on it. Luzon uses
the Clark 1866 ellipsoid and its origin is located just south of Luzon at Balanacan, Marinduque Island.
PRS92 - In 1992, NAMRIA created the Philippine Reference System datum of 1992 (PRS92). PRS92 is
not a new datum but an adjustment of the Luzon datum. The original datum observations from Luzon 1911, used
in PRS92, were not recomputed. PRS92 uses a total of 467 GPS locations, of which 330 are first order accuracy.
The Luzon datum location network consists of survey data of second order accuracy or below. NAMRIA has
published transformation parameters for PRS92 to WGS84 but there is no published accuracy assessment.

Two projected coordinate systems used in the Philippines are the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
coordinate system and the Philippine Transverse Mercator (PTM) coordinate system. UTM is a series of global
projections that divide the earth into 60 zones, six degrees for each zone. The Philippines is covered by Zone
51North which is bounded by 120° East and 126 East longitude and has a central meridian of 123° East longitude.
The scaling factor is 0.9996 which means that true scale is located along a meridian 180 km to the east and west
of the central meridian.
UTM uses a Cartesian coordinate system where the origin of X and Y is located at the intersection of the
equator and the central meridian. The unit of measurement is the meter. To prevent the use of negative numbers,
which make measurements and calculations more difficult, the X coordinate, at the central meridian is given a
value of 500,000 meters, instead of zero meters. The X coordinate is also referred to as the easting. The Y
coordinate, or northing, remains at zero. For example, the coordinates for the intersection of the Lantapan and
Malaybalay roads, using WGS84, are northing 890900 meters and easting 735334 meters. Therefore, we know
that the road intersection is 890900 meters north of the equator and 235334 meters (735334-500000) east of the
central meridian of 123° East longitude.
The PTM is a not a global projection. It is a local projection designed specifically for the Philippines and
primarily used for surveying political boundaries. PTM reduces distortion by creating a series of central
meridians. While UTM has only one zone to cover the country, PTM uses five separate zones. Bukidnon is in
Zone V. The five zones are:
Zone I 117° East Area west of 118° E
Zone II 119° East Palawan and Calamian Islands
Zone III 121° East Luzon (except SE), Mindoro
Zone IV 123° East - SE Luzon, West Mindanao
Zone V 125° East - East Mindanao, Bohol, Samar

Like UTM, the origin of the coordinate system is at the intersection of the equator and the central meridian.
The Y coordinate (northing) is zero meters and the X coordinate (easting) is 500,000 meters. In general, the PTM
uses the Luzon 1911 datum and the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid with a scale factor at the central meridian of 0.99995.