Projections and Coordinate

Systems Revisited

You Must Understand This To

Become Proficient in GIS
 Different Projections for
Different Purposes
Albers Lambert
Equal Area Conformal
Conic

Geographic
Notice that there
is no information
about the
coordinate
system nor the
projection for
this shapefile.
Everything is
assumed but may
not be correct.
The shapefile
does not have
that information
until someone
DEFINES it.
Most of these files are available in two coordinate
systems: Decimal Degrees (latitude and longitude)
and Texas State Mapping System (TSMS), a Lambert
Conformal Conic projection with parameters specific
to Texas.
 This is the
information
This files tells in text
the software format. See
what it is. next slide.
Sometimes you really have to dig
for the information.
Meta Data:

The ingredients
on the can of
soup.
What do you notice?
There is no spatial
information.
If you look at the
files you
downloaded and
unzipped, there is no
roads.prj file to
house the spatial
info.

YOU MUST
DEFINE THE
COORDINATES!!!
When you add
the NCTCOG
roads file which
has no defined
coordinates or
projections, you
typically get a
warning.

The software
does not know
how to match
the files.
Denton County
roads

Carrollton
Image ??????
You Must First Define the Projection/Coordinate System

Then You Project to a New Shapefile with a Different

Projection and Coordinate System

Use ArcToolBox
 How does ArcGIS remember
projections?
• Projection information is stored in various ways

Projected Coordinate System: Shapefiles

Name: PCS_Transverse_Mercator
Alias: PRJ file
Abbreviation: Coverages
Remarks:
Projection: Transverse_Mercator
Parameters:
World file CAD files
False_Easting: 500000.000000
False_Northing: 0.000000
Central_Meridian: -117.000000
AUX file Images
Scale_Factor: 0.999600
Latitude_Of_Origin: 0.000000
Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)
RDBMS table Geodatabase
Geographic Coordinate System:
Name: GCS_North_American_1983
Projection and
coordinate information
Roads now overlay in the display
but ……… roads must be
projected to match for correct
analysis.
Roads file
projected to
match the
projection and
coordinate
system of the
Carrolton image.
 With both files in the same
projection and coordinate system,
you are now ready to do correct
overlay analyses.