Working with Coordinate

Systems in ArcGIS
Amanda Henley
GIS Librarian
Davis Library Reference
 Modeling the Earth
 The Earth is not a perfect sphere
 It is an Oblate Spheroid
 Different Spheroids have been
devised to model the earth- they are
distinguished by the length of their
axes:
Semi-
Major
Axis
Semi-
Minor
Axis
 Geographic Coordinate Systems

 Locations are
defined on a 3-D
spherical surface
 Made up of
graticules rather
than grid cells
 Units are in degrees

Image Source: Understanding Coordinate Systems, ESRI 2000:

http://its.unc.edu/gis/arcgis/pc_documentation_83/Understanding_Map_Projections.pdf
 Geographic Coordinate Systems
 Not uniform:
• Distances and
measures are not
accurate
 Meridians
Converge Near
Poles
 1° longitude:
• @ Equator= 111 km
• @ 60° lat. = 55.8 km
Distance of 60° long at equator
vs. • @ 90° lat. = 0km
Distance of 60° long at 40° latitude

Original Image Source: www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/DistanceLatLong.html

 Geographic Coordinate Systems

 Use Decimal Degrees (angles), 3 digits or less

 North America:
• West of the Prime Meridian, so Longitude (X) is negative
• North of the Equator, so Latitude (Y) is positive

 Geographic Coordinate Systems include

• A Datum
• An angular Unit of Measure (degrees)
• A Prime Meridian
Image Source: [http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=29129].
 Datums
 Link a spheroid to a location on the
earth

 Define the origin and orientation of the

coordinate systems used to map the
earth
 Geodetic Datums

 There are many datums

• Local:
 NAD 27 Datum, uses Clarke 1866 spheroid
 NAD 83 Datum, uses GRS 1980 spheroid
• Global
 WGS 84 Datum, uses WGS 1984 spheroid

 In addition to being in the same projection,

data themes must also be in the same datum.

Source: Peter H. Dana, The Geographer's Craft Project,

Department of Geography, The University of Colorado at Boulder
[http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/datum/datum_f.html]
Accessed: 01/25/06
Datum Errors May Be Difficult to See
In this case, the boundaries are roughly 32 meters off: datum shifts are not uniform
Errors up to 1 km can result from confusing one datum for another
 Datum Transformations
ArcGIS 9.2
 NAD 1927 to NAD 1983
-for areas in the 48 contiguous states

Name Code Area of Use

NAD_1927_To_NAD_1983_NADCON 1241 United States (contiguous 48 states - CONUS)

 WGS 1984 to NAD 1983

-for areas in the 48 contiguous states

Name Code Area of Use

NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_5 1515 United States
There are many transformations to chose from, each is appropriate for different areas.
Data in a Geographic Coordinate System
 Projected Coordinate Systems
 Projected Coordinate Systems
mathematically transform the 3
dimensional earth so that it can be
modeled in 2 dimensions.

 This results in distortion

 Different projections are used for

different areas and purposes
Map projections: Distortion
 Converting from 3-D globe to flat
surface causes distortion
 Types of distortion
• Shape
• Area
• Distance
• Direction
 No projection can preserve all four of
these spatial properties
 If some properties are maintained,
errors in others may be exaggerated
 Families of Projections

 Planar/Azimuthal

 Cylindrical

 Conical
 Commonly Used Projected
Coordinate Systems
 State Plane- a coordinate system
that divides the United States,
Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
into >120 zones.
 North Carolina State Plane Meters,
NAD83 is used by the North Carolina
CGIA
 NC State Plane Feet, NAD83 is used
by most local data providers.
 U.S. State Plane Zones

Image Source: http://www.warnercnr.colostate.edu/class_info/nr502/lg3/datums_coordinates/spcs.html, Accessed January 27, 2006.

Georgia State Plane Meters
East and West
North Carolina State Plane
Meters and Feet
 Commonly Used Projected
Coordinate Systems Cont.
 UTM- Universal Transverse Mercator
divides the globe into 60 zones, each
6° longitude.
 Transverse Mercator is accurate for
narrow zones
 Often used for large scale scientific
mapping
 Units are in meters
UTM Zones in North Carolina
Spatial Data for Orange County,
NC in two different UTM Zones
 Commonly Used Projected
Coordinate Systems Cont.

 Albers Equal Area Conic:

• “Used by USGS for maps showing the
conterminous United States (48 states) or
large areas of the United States. Well suited
for large countries or other areas that are
mainly east-west in extent and that require
equal-area representation. Used for many
thematic maps.”
Source: USGS http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html Accessed, 1/27/06.
Albers Equal Area Conic
 Working With Coordinate Systems
in ArcGIS
• On the Fly Projection
• Datum Transformation
• Defining a Layer’s Coordinate System vs.
Projecting Data