Spatial Reference Systems

• Today we will begin the first of two classes on aspects of

cartography.
• Cartography is both an art and a science, but we will focus
on the more scientific aspects.
• I will look at spatial reference systems today, and then
look at map projections next day.
• All projections entail a distortion of one or more
properties, therefore it is essential to know whether the
projection being used is the most appropriate.
 Spatial Scale
• Features on a map are obviously drawn smaller than their
actual size.
• The ratio of the drawn size to actual size is known as scale.
• This can be indicated in various ways, e.g.
• 1 inch = 1 mile
• 1 inch = 63,360 inches
• 1:63,630
• The preferred method is the representative fraction (RF).
• Large scale maps have a larger RF (i.e. they are more
‘zoomed in’ and show more detail).
• Despite the ability to zoom in or out in GIS, the scale of
the source data remains important and should be included
in the metadata.
 Models Of The Earth
• When specifying location we need to use a model to
describe the hsape of the Earth.
• At small scales, the Earth may be assumed to be round (i.e.
a sphere).
• At larger scales, we need to model the Earth as an ellipsoid
(an oblate spheroid).
• Ellipticity f (or ‘flattening’) is defined as (a-b)/a, where a
is the semi-major axis and b is the semi-minor axis.
 Ellipticity

• The ellipticity of the Earth is estimated by the World

Geodetic System 1984 (WDS84) as 0.003353 – i.e. it is
almost a sphere.
• Other ellipsoids with slightly different estimates are used
by different mapping agencies.
• The ellipsoid used should be defined as part of the datum.
 The Geoid
• An ellipsoid may not be sufficiently accurate for detailed
measurements at large scale.
• The Earth is actually slightly ‘pear-shaped’.
• It also has ‘bumps’ and ‘hollows’ (ignoring terrain).
• For geodetic measurements, the geoid is used.
• This is defined as the ‘equipotential surface that most
closely corresponds to mean sea level’.
• Mean sea level varies from place to place, so different
mapping agencies use slightly different geoids.
 Spherical Coordinates
• Once you have a model, you also need a method for
expressing location (i.e. a coordinate system)
• Treating the Earth as a sphere, the traditional approach is
to use spherical coordinates or geographical
coordinates.
• These express location in terms of latitude and longitude.
• Latitude is the angle at the centre of the earth between
the point of interest and the equator.
• Longitude is the angle at the centre of the Earth between
the point of interest and the prime meridian (i.e. the line
running from pole to pole through Greenwich).
 Spherical Coordinates (2)
• By convention the latitude of a place in the northern
hemisphere is positive, and in the southern hemisphere it is
negative.
• Places east of Greenwich have a positive longitude, places
west have a negative longitude.
• Degrees were traditionally divided into 60 minutes, and
each minute into 60 seconds.
• For computing purposes, decimal degrees are more
normally used.
 Spheroidal Coordinates
• If the Earth is modelled as a spheroid, latitude is measured
slightly differently.
• Latitude is defined as the angle between a line drawn
perpendicular to the point of interest and the equatorial
plane. The angle is therefore displace from the centre of
the Earth.
• Measured this way, latitude and longitude are referred to
as geodetic coordinates (although the term geographic
cordinates is often used more loosely to include geodetic
coordinates).
 Cartesian Coordinates
• Geodetic coordinates are a bit unwieldy for observations
made from satellites, so a 3-dimenional Cartesian system
is sometimes used.
• Treating the centre of the spheroid as the origin, the Z-axis
is aligned with the minor axis of the ellipsoid (i.e. through
the north pole), and the X and Y axes lie on the equatorial
plane. The X-axis intersects the equator at the prime
meridian, and the Y axes is at right angles to it.
• Any point in 3-D space can be expressed relative to the 3
axes.
 Planar Coordinates
• Two dimensional Cartesian coordinates are normally used
for projected maps.
• The X corodinate measures distance in an east-west
direction, and the Y coordinate measures it in a north-
south direction.
• The true origin is at the centre of the map, but because
negative values are unwieldy, a false origin is usually
defined to produce positive values.
• The location of the false origin (i.e. offset) and type of
projection should be specified in the datum.
 Digitiser Coordinates
• If you digitise a paper map using a digitising table, the
digitiser will use its own planar coordinate system (i.e.
points will be measured in inches (or whatever) from the
centre of the table).
• The digitiser coordinates therefore need to translated into
the planar coordinate system used by source map (e.g.
Irish Grid).
• These conversions also need to take account of the
displacement of the origin and any angular errors.
 Measuring Distance
• Measuring distance in a Cartesian system is a simple
application of Pythagoras’s theorem:
d  x1 x 2  y  y 
2 2

1 2
• However, the distance estimates will vary depending upon
the projection used.
• Measuring distance using geographic coordinates is more
complex:
d  R cos 1 sin 1 sin  2  cos1 cos 2 cos1  2 
• The calculations are even more complex for geodetic
coordinates.
 Datums
• If you want data from different sources to ‘line up’, you
may need to convert them from one projection to another.
• To do this, you need to know not only what projection was
used for each dataset, but also details about the reference
system (i.e. size and shape of the spheroid, position of its
centre, displacement of the false origin, etc.).
• This information is referred to as the datum, and should
form part of the metadata.
• In the following example, a mapping agency is using the
WGS84 spheroid, but it is displace to suit local conditions.
 National Standards (1)
• North American maps traditionally used a spheroid
defined by Clarke in 1866. This formed part of the North
American Datum drawn up in 1927 (NAD27).
• Different states then adopted different projections with
different origins. The standards for each state are referred
to as the state planes.
• Following more accurate data from satellites, a new North
American Datum was defined in 1983 (NAD83) based on
the world Geodetic Reference System defined in 1980
(GRS80).
• If working with US maps you need to know whether they
use NAD27 or NAD83
 National Standards (2)
• The US military uses a different variant of GRS80 called
World Geodetic System (WGS84).
• This is used for GPS in North America.
• In Europe another variant of GRS80, called the European
Terrestrial Reference Frame (ETRF89), is used for GPS.
• The Irish realisation of ETRF89 is known as IRENET95.
 National Standards (3)
• The Irish Grid uses a datum called Ireland 1965, based on
a spheroid originally defined by Airy in 1830, but
modified in 1849.
• OSGB uses a datum called OSGB36 which uses Airy’s
unmodified spheroid.
• OSI introduced a new planar coordinate system in 2001
called Irish Transverse Mercator. This uses a Transverse
Mercator projection and is based on GRS80/ETRF89/
IRENET96 and is therefore more compatible with GPS.