Coordinate Systems and Map Projections

 Modeling the earth

 Geographic Coordinate System
 Datum
 Projected Coordinate System
 Examples of common coordinate
systems
Coordinate Systems and Map Projections

• Geodesy .....??

• Map Projection.....??

• Coordinate systems....??
 Geodesy
• Also called geodetics.
• A branch of Earth science and a scientific
discipline.
• Deals with Measurement and representation
of specific parts or regions of the earth.
 Coordinate Systems and Map Projections

• Map Projection - the transformation of a

curved earth to a flat map.

While

• Coordinate systems - (x,y,z) coordinate

systems for map data
 The Earth’s Shape and Size
• Estimates of shape by the ancients have
ranged from a flat disk, to a cube to a cylinder.
• Pythagoras was the first to postulate it was a
sphere.
• By the 5th century BCE, this was firmly
established.
 The Earth’s Size
• Posidonius used the stars to determine the
earth's circumference.
• Posidonius calculated the earth's
circumference to be 38,647 kilometers (24,000
miles) – an error of only three percent.”
 Models of the Earth
The earth can be modeled as a
– sphere,
– oblate ellipsoid
– geoid
 Shape of the Earth
• We think of the • It is actually a spheroid,
earth as a sphere slightly larger in radius
at the equator than at
the poles
• Earth is not a sphere, but an ellipsoid, because the
centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation “flattens it
out”.

• This was finally proven by the French in 1753

• The earth rotates about its shortest axis, or minor
axis, and is therefore described as an oblate ellipsoid
 Spheroid vs Geoid
• spheroid represents an idealized model of the
earth’s shape

While

• geoid represents the “true,” highly complex

shape of the earth.
• It is the 3 dimensional surface of the earth
along which the pull of gravity is a given
constant.
• The gravitational pull varies from place to place
because of differences in density, which causes
the geoid to bulge or dip below or above the
ellipsoid.
Earth, geoid, and spheroid surfaces

Spheroid

Geoid

Earth
 Coordinate Systems
• Used to describe the location of an object on the earth
surface.

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) introduced system of

coordinates
• There are 2 types of coordinate systems:

– Geographic Coordinate Systems

– Projected Coordinate Systems

 Geographic Coordinate System
• A reference system using latitude and longitude to
define the location of points on the surface of a
sphere or spheroid.
• GCS is defined by Meridians & Parallels.
• Meridians: lines of longitude
• Parallels: lines of latitude
• Latitude lines form parallel circles of different
sizes, while longitude lines are half-circles that
meet at the poles
• Latitude goes from 0 to 90º N or S and
longitude to 180º E or W of meridian; the 180º
line is the date line
 Graticules

Latitude/Longitude Lines of latitude Longitude lines E or

N or S of Equator W of Prime Meridian

• PrimeMeridian and Equator serve as baseline of the

geographic coordinate system.
Geographic Coordinate System
Angular measures of longitude / latitude are
expressed in

– decimal degrees (DD) 92.5

– degrees/minutes/seconds (DMS) 92° 30’ 00” W
– Radians (rad)
One radian = 57.2958°
One degree =0.01745 rad
 North Pole

Equator a

Ellipsoid

• The ellipsoidal shape of the Earth deviates from a

perfect circle by flattening at the poles and bulging at
the equator.
• Spheroid has its major axis (a) along the equator.
•Minor axis (b) along the poles.
• A spheroid is defined by either the semimajor
axis,(a) and the semiminor axis, (b) or by a and
the flattening.
• The flattening is the difference in length
between the two axes expressed as a fraction
or a decimal.
The flattening, f, is:
f = (a - b) / a
 Datum
• A mathematical model of earth which serves
as a reference or base for calculating the
geographic coordinates of a location.
• A three dimensional surface from which
latitude, longitude and elevation are
calculated.
 Horizontal vs Vertical Datums
• Horizontal datums are the reference values for a system
of location measurements.
• Horizental datum are used to describe a point of earth
surface in long/lat or another coordinate system.
• Vertical datums are the reference values for a system of
elevation measurements.
• Vertical datum measure elevation or depths.
 Types of Datum
Local Datum
Many Countries developed their own datums for
local surveys.
• European Datum
• Australian Geodetic Dataum
• Tokyo Datum
• Indian Datum
• NAD 27 Datum
• NAD 83 Datum
 Types of Datum

Global Datum

• WGS 84 Datum, uses WGS 1984 spheroid

• *Very* similar to NAD 83
• North American Datum 1927 (NAD27)
– Uses the Clarke 1866 spheroid
– Reference point is located at Meades Ranch, Kansas
– Based on ground survey inrmation in the 1800’s

• North American Datum 1983 (NAD83)

– Uses GRS80 (Geodetic Reference System) spheroid

– Introduced by National Geodatic Survey( NGS) in 1986
– Ellipsoid model from geocentric perspective
– Based on ground surveys and satellite information
– official datum of the USA, Canada and Central America

• World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84)

– Most recently developed datum/ framework for measurements
worldwide
– Earth centered, or geocentric, perspective
– it is more or less identical to Geodetic Reference System 1980 (GRS80).
– This is the datum used by all GPS satellites
 Map Projections

A map projection transforms latitude and

longitude locations to x,y coordinates
 Map Projections
• Transforming three-dimensional earth measurements
to a two-dimensional map sheet.
• Visualize projecting a light from the middle of the
earth and shining the earth’s features onto a map
• The map sheet may be:
– Planar
– Cylindrical
– Conic
Azimuthal Cylindrical Conic
 The process of flattening the earth will cause distortions in one or
more of the following spatial properties:

On the basis of preserved property map projections are classified

as.

• Shape
– Conformal map projections preserve shape
• Area
– Equal area map projections preserve area
• Distance/Scale
– Equidistant map projections preserve distance
• Direction/Angle
– Azimuthal map projections preserve true direction
 Classification of Map Projections
According to how they address distortion

• Conformal
– Useful when the determination of distances or angles is
important
– Navigation and topographic maps

• Equal area
– Will maintain the relative size and shape of landscape features

• Azimuthal
– Maintains direction on a mapped surface
• Lambert (Conformal Conic)
- Area and shape are distorted away from standard parallels
- Used for most west-east State Plane zones

• Mercator (Conformal Cylindrical)

-useful for navigation since local shapes are not distorted
-Transverse Mercator is used for north-south State Plane zones
 Projected Coordinate Systems
• PCS also called Plan coordinate system.
• Based on map projections.
• PCS are designed for detail calculations and
positioning and used in large scale mapping.
• Important PCS are :
 UTM
 UPS
 SPC
 UTM
• UTM coordinate system is a grid based
method for specifying the locations on the
surface of the earth. The developed UTM grid
is defined in meters.
 Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

• UTM divides the earth surface between 84°N

and 80°S into 60 zones.
• Each UTM zone is identified by a number and
covers 6° of longitudes.
• Each zone is further divided into northern &
southern hemispheres.
 UTM
• Numbering of zone beings at 180° and proceeds
eastwards.
– Zone 1 is from 180°W to 174°W,
– Zone 2 is from 174°W to 168°W, and so on.
• Each zone also has a central meridian.
Zone 1 central meridian is 177°W,
Zone 2 central meridian is 171°W, and so on.
UTM longitude Zone
 Latitudional Division
• The UTM system segments each longitude zone into
20 latitude zones.
• Each latitude zone is 8 degrees starting from ”C” at
80° S, increasing up the English alphabet until “X”
• omitting the letters “I” and “O” (because of their
similarity to the digits one and zero).
• The last latitude zone “X” is extended an extra 4
degrees, so it ends at 84° N latitude, thus covering
the northern most land on the earth.
UTM latitude Zone
 UTM
• Each grid square is referred by the longitude
zone no and the latitude zone character.
• For example, a position in Toronto, Canada,
would find itself in longitude zone 17 and
latitude zone “T”, thus the full reference is 17T
Universal polar stereographic(UPS)
• UPS covers polar areas.
• UPS divided the polar areas into a series of
100,000 meter squares.
• Similiar to as UTM.
 State Plane Coordinate System (SPC)
• A coordinate system developed in 1930s.
• to provide local reference systems that were tied to a
national datum.
• One part is 10,000 sq m or less.
• A state may have two or more spc zones.
• Each zone is mapped on map projection.
• N-S Enlongated zone use Transverse Mercator
Projection.
• E – W Enlongated zone use Lmbert Conformal Conic
Projection.