BUOG

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3 - Local Coordinates System

Prepared by

n.saeed@buog.edu.iq Najah Saeed Abdulridha www.buog.edu.iq

 Local Coordinates
The coordinate system defines a unique point A.
For example, the coordinate system used on the wall plot contains three axes:
NORTH, EAST, TVD
NORTH
 Axes are oriented perpendicular to each other EAST
 Axes origin is defined by a zero coordinate (defined by the client)
 TVD axis oriented vertically down Coordinate
 NORTH reference is defined by the client System ORIGIN

True Vertical
Depth
 LOCAL Coordinates System
 In well planning “Local” Coordinates are always used
 Local Coordinates are derived from a Local System which, in turn, is related to a “Legal” Coordinates system
and also referred to an specific Geodetic Datum
 The axis of a Local Coordinates system are parallel to the respective axis of the Legal Coordinates system
of reference
 The coordinates in a LOCAL system are derived from distances measured to a point of “origin” located in the
corresponding “Legal” Coordinates System of reference
 The “origin” or reference point in the LOCAL system has its own coordinates in the LEGAL system (x, y)
 The “origin” in the LOCAL system has coordinates (0,0)
 To measure the well depth it is necessary to previously define one “Geodetic Datum”, called “Vertical Reference
Datum”, such as “Ground Level”, “Mean Sea Level”, “Mud Line”, etc.

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 LOCAL Coordinates System

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 LOCAL Coordinates System
1. Rectangular Co-ordinates

In 1637 Rene Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher,

developed a method of associating the points on a plane with pairs
of numbers. By drawing two number lines or axes, perpendicular at
the 0 point or origin, a Rectangular Co-ordinate system is formed.

 A point on this coordinate plane is associated with a pair of

numbers called an Ordered Pair.
 The first number in the pair corresponds to the projection of the
point on the horizontal or x-Axis.

 The second number corresponds to the projection of the point on the vertical or y-Axis.
 Points P and Q are associated with the ordered pairs (4,5) and (3,-2) & (-4,2) respectively. Such ordered pairs are
called Rectangular Co-ordinates.
 LOCAL Coordinates System
1. Rectangular Co-ordinates
• This Rectangular Co-ordinate system has been adopted in directional drilling
for several purposes. The easiest being, determining bottom hole location of
the well w.r.t well head or rig location

• In this case a Rectangular Co-ordinate system is set up by,

• y-axis being replaced by N/S co-ordinates,
• x-axis being replaced by E/W co-ordinates and
• 0 or origin being replaced by well head.
• Note: N/S co-ordinates are represented first followed by E/W co-ordinates.

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 LOCAL Coordinates System
1. Rectangular Co-ordinates
North is +ve number that indicates the distance NORTH from the well
head/rig location, while a -ve number indicates a distance SOUTH.
• East is +ve number that indicates the distance EAST from the well
head/rig location, while a -ve number indicates a distance WEST.
• Both these form an ordered pair and represents the bottom hole well
location with reference to well head/rig location.
• N/S & E/W are represented on a Plan View or Horizontal Plot.

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 Example
Horizontal Plots of four wells are shown. Locate N/S & E/W coordinates.
(N/S,E/W) Co-ordinates at;
A = (60,60)
B = (75,-15)
C = (-60,-45)
D = (75,-75)

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Questions

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 LOCAL Coordinates System
2. Polar Co-ordinates
In directional drilling, can also use polar coordinates to locate a position. Polar coordinates indicate the
distance of one location from another, and the azimuthal direction. The distance coordinate is written first,
followed by the @ symbol and the azimuthal direction. In the figure beside, the target is 2,572.68 ft. from the
surface location, at 217.60° AZM. Therefore, the polar coordinates of the target are written as 2572.68 ft. @
217.60° AZM.

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 Calculating Polar Coordinates
Polar coordinates are calculated from rectangular coordinates using the following steps.

1 Action: Calculate the polar distance using the Pythagorean theorem.

2 Action: Calculate the direction coordinate using the inverse tangent function.
Below is the polar distance calculation for rectangular coordinates of S 2035 ft W 1574 ft.
a2 = b2 + c2
a2 = 20352 + 15742
a2 = 4141225 + 2477476
a2 = 6,618,701
a = 2572.68 (rounded to two decimal places)

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 Calculating the Polar Direction Coordinate
When determining the polar direction coordinate, use the inverse tangent function to calculate the compass
quadrant direction. then, convert compass quadrant to azimuthal direction.
In the figure below, the rectangular coordinates for the well are S 2035 ft W 1574 ft. The polar distance is
2572.68 ft.
Compass quadrant direction (^α) is calculated using rectangular coordinates as follows:
tan α = E/W / N/S
tan α = 1574 / 2035
tan α = 0.77 (rounded to two decimal places)
α = tan-1(0.77)
α = 37.60° (rounded to two decimal places)

The compass quadrant direction S 37.60° W

equals 217.60° AZM (180 + 37.60).
Therefore,
the polar coordinates of the target = 2572.68 ft @ 217.60° AZM.
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Example:
Find bottom hole location of four wells from same well head/rig location from
the horizontal plot.

Point A is at 20 m @ 330°
Point B is at 25 m @ 125°
Point C is at 25 m @ 250°
Point D is at 15 m @ 245°
Point E is at 30 m @ 90°

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Questions

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Questions

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What s the Shape of Earth ?

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Spherical Oblate Spherical=Spheroid=Ellipsoid Lumpy Potato
 Summary
1. To locate a point of the Earth on a Map it is necessary one Coordinates System
2. There are available five well known Coordinates Systems: Geographic Coordinates, UTM,
Lambert, Legal and Local
3. There are three Projection Methods widely used of the Earth onto plane surfaces:
Mercator’s Cylinder, Lambert’s Conical, and Planar.
4. Each projection has areas with low and high distortion
5. The use of a Geodetic Datum allows higher accuracy to the allocation of a given point on
the Earth.
6. The UTM system is widely used in zones with predominant N-S extensions
7. Lambert’s Conical system of Coordinates is preferred in zones with predominant E-W
extensions
8. Legal Coordinates are developed for regional control of maps, have their own Geodetic
Datum and can use different projection / coordinates systems, depending on the
extension predominant
9. Local system is the one used for well planning and is referred to a Legal system

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Geodetic Datums
Different Geodetic Datums
Geodetic Coordinates
 Coordinate System - Geodetic Datums

Geodetic Datum = function(ellipsoid: dimensions, position and orientation)

used by ED50 datum

Name of ellipsoid Equatorial axis, m Polar Axis, m
Airy 1830 6,377,563 6,356,256
Clarke 1866 6,378,206 6,356,583
Clarke 1880 6,378,249 6,356,514
International 1924 6,378,388 6,356,911
Krasovsky 1940 6,378,245 6,356,863
GRS 1980 6,378,137 6,356,752
WGS 1984 6,378,137 6,356,752

used by NAD83, WGS84, GDA94 datums

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Coordinated Systems
Map Projections
Projections
Projections are geographic to grid conversions carried out through analytic means.
 Cylindrical projections involve projecting part of an ellipsoid onto a cylinder
 Conical onto a cone
 Planar onto a flat plane.
Each has certain characteristics which are advantageous for mapping.
One desirable characteristic of any projection is to maintain a one to one relationship between a
distance on the projection surface and the distance it represents on the surface of the ellipsoid. The ratio of these two values
is called SCALE FACTOR.
Grid distance = True distance * SF
Geometrically
a one to one scale factor ratio is seen only where the two
surfaces touch. In order to maintain a reasonable scale
factor over a large area, projection surfaces are made
secant to the ellipsoidal surface. Between the secant
lines, the scale factor is less than one, and outside, it is
greater than one.
Summary

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Summary

• One degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles .

• a minute of latitude is approximately 1.15 miles.
• a second of latitude is approximately 0.02 miles.
• However, one degree of longitude varies in size. At the equator, it's approximately 69 miles and the size decreases
to zero as the meridians meet at the pole.

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