Objectives

Coordinate Systems and Map

Projections for GIS
D. H. Maling
GIS Applications

Many different coordinate systems are used to describe the

positions of features on the Earth.
GIS needs to be able to register data from different
coordinate systems for analysis and display.
A GIS application needs a consistent projection framework
The size of the area and type of application will determine
an appropriate coordinate system /projection.

Spring 2004
Malings Assumption: GIS positional data are primarily
printed maps which have been digitized. This is
changing somewhat as more data are collected by GPS.

Economy of data handling

Economize by making assumptions about the shape of the earth

geoid
ellipsoid
sphere
plane

Economies of map use: when does the projection make a

difference.
Most GIS applications warrant equal area projection
Usually when doing analysis that requires areal calculations an
equal area projection should be used.
If area is small enough the difference between conformal and
equal area is not significant

Choice of Earth Model

Ellipsoidal earth models are required for accurate
range and bearing calculations over long distances.
Reference ellipsoids are defined by semi-major
(equatorial radius) and semi-minor (polar radius) axes.
Other reference ellipsoid parameters such as flattening, and
eccentricity are computed from these two terms.
The best of these models can represent the shape of the earth
over the smoothed, averaged sea-surface to within about
one-hundred meters.

Types of Coordinate Systems

Latitude, Longitude, Height

3 dimensional coordinates - terrestrial

The Prime Meridian and the Equator are the reference planes
used to define latitude and longitude

geographical : latitude (phi) longitude(lambda)

3D Cartesian coordinates X Y Z

2 dimensional coordinates
plane Cartesian coordinates x, y
polar coordinates r,

Geodetic latitude of a point is the angle from the equatorial

plane to the vertical direction of a line normal to the reference
ellipsoid.
Geodetic longitude of a point is the angle between a reference
plane and a plane passing through the point, both planes
being perpendicular to the equatorial plane

raster grid - row- column; easting, northing

map projections - defined in Cartesian or polar coordinates

Geodetic height at a point is the distance from the reference

ellipsoid to the point in a direction normal to the ellipsoid.

ECEF X, Y, Z
Earth centered, earth-fixed, X, Y, and Z, Cartesian
coordinates (XYZ) define three dimensional positions with
respect to the center of mass of the reference ellipsoid
The Z-axis points toward the North Pole
The X-axis is defined by the intersection of the plane
defined by the prime meridian and the equatorial plane
The Y-axis completes a right handed orthogonal system by a
plane 90 degrees east of the X-axis and its intersection with
the equator

Projection Classifications

Projection Classifications

Projection maps from datum surface to a plane or a developable

surface.

Projections are also classified according to the positioning of the

developable surface on the datum surface (ellipsoid)
Tangent

Projections classified on developable surfaces

Cylindrical
Conical
Azimuthal

Secant
The cylinder is tangent to the sphere along a great circle (the
circle formed on the surface of the Earth by a plane passing
through the center of the Earth).
In the secant case, the cylinder touches the sphere along two
lines, both small circles (a circle formed on the surface of the
Earth by a plane not passing through the center of the Earth).

Projection Classifications
Also classified by the orientation of the developable surface
(plane) or axis (cone and cylinder) with the rotational (minor)
axis of the ellipsoid

normal
transverse
oblique

Projection Distortions
All map projections contain some distortion.
Distortion can occur in shape, area, distance, direction
Projections preserve some properties at expense of others.
Distortion increases away from the places of tangency.
Distortions are a function of certain mathematical relationships
of a projection.
The most commonly described mathematical relationships are
conformality
equivalence (equal area)
equidistance

Conformality

Area

Locally preserves angles. Any two lines in the map follow the same
angle as the corresponding original lines on the Earth; projected
graticule lines always cross at right angles Also, at any particular
point, scale is the same in all directions.

When a map portrays areas over the entire map so that all
mapped areas have the same proportional relationship to the
areas on the Earth that they represent, the map is an equalarea map

Distance
A map is equidistant when the distances between one or two
points and every other point on the map differ from the
corresponding distances on the sphere by only a constant
scaling factor

Direction
A map preserves direction when azimuths (angles from a
point on a line to another point) are portrayed correctly in all
directions

Scale

Conformal Projections

The relationship between a distance portrayed on a map and

the same distance on the Earth
In projections, scale varies from place to place.
All three properties can be controlled through the scale factor

Scale Factor = Grid (Projection) Length

Datum Length
Scale factor is a ratio of a length on projection surface to the
corresponding length on the datum surface and can be larger or
smaller than 1

Shape is preserved locally on conformal maps, angles at any

point are correct, although sizes will change
Even though conformal projections preserve the angles, the
directions of lines can be changed in the process of projecting them
The Mercator projection has straight meridians and parallels that
intersect at right angles. Scale is true at the equator or at two
standard parallels equidistant from the equator. The projection is
often used for marine navigation because all straight lines on the
map are lines of constant azimuth.

Cylindrical Equal Area

Cylindrical Equal-Area projections have straight meridians
and parallels, the meridians are equally spaced, the parallels
unequally spaced
There are normal, transverse, and oblique cylindrical
equal-area projections
Scale is true along the central line (the equator for normal, the
central meridian for transverse, and a selected line for
oblique) and along two lines equidistant from the central line.
Shape and scale distortions increase near points 90
degrees from the central line

UTM Universal Transerve Mercator

The UTM projection defines horizontal positions world-wide
by dividing the surface of the Earth into 6 degree zones
Zone numbers designate 6 degree longitudinal strips extending
from 80 degrees South latitude to 84 degrees North latitude.
UTM zone characters designate 8 degree zones extending
north and south from the equator.
Each zone has a central meridian in the center of the zone
Maximum linear error is 1 in 2,500, which translates into a
maximum error of 4 in 10,000.

UTM Zone
Each zone is divided into
horizontal bands spanning
8 degrees of latitude.
These bands are lettered,
south to north, beginning
at 80 S with the letter C
and ending with the letter
X at 84 N.

State Plane Coordinates

State Plane Coordinate System

In the United States, the State Plane Coordinate System

was developed in the 1930s

Uses 2 projections

SPCS-27 used NAD-27 datum and linear unit was foot

Lambert conformal conic normal orientation and secant

to the ellipsoid - for states with east- west orientation

SPCS-83 was computed on NAD-83 datum and uses meter

as the linear unit

Transverse Mercator cylindrical north - south

While the NAD-27 State Plane System has been

superseded by the NAD-83 System, maps in NAD-27
coordinates (in feet) are still in use.
Most states have enacted legislation to legalize the use of
State Plane coordinates and stipulates which linear units to
be used, i.e. a conversion

State Plane Coordinate Systems

Lambert conic

158 mile height

Transverse

158 miles wide

Scale error is limited to 1:10,000

Maine State Plane Zones

Maine East Zone
Fipszone: 1801 ADSzone: 4076 UTM Zone: 19
Aroostook, Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo,
Washington
Maine West Zone
Fipszone: 1802 ADSzone: 4101 UTM Zone: 19
Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Kennebec, Lincoln,
Oxford, Sagadahoc, Somerset, York

Transformation Methods
Cartesian coordinates on a map are functionally related to a
position on the earth expressed in geographic coordinates

Analytical Transformation
Conversion of digitized map coordinates into geographical
coordinates (inverse solution)
Conversion of these into GIS framework - projection (forward
solution)

x = f1 (,)
y = f2 (,)

(x,y)

Analytical transformation

>

inverse solution

(, )

>

(x,y)

forward solution

Direct grid on grid

Polynomial transformation

Mercator solution - normal aspect

Sphere

R = radius of the Earth

Forward Solution
x= R
y=R ln tan(/4 +/2)

Inverse Solution
= /22 tan-1(-y/R)
= x/R +0

Limitations of Analytical Method

Method is rigorous and independent of size of area to
be mapped.
Problems - computationally more complex
Original map projection parameters are not specified on
existing maps - sometimes projections are named but
parallels or meridians may not be

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/MapProjections.html

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Grid on Grid

Grid on Grid Method

Based on relationship of same coordinates in two projections
Use of ground control points to determine transformation parameters
(x',y') > (x, y)

Translates to three components

translation
scaling
rotation

Linear conformal, similarity or Helmert

x = A + Cx' + Dy'

scalar is one value

need 4 coefficients

y = B - Dx' + Cy'

y= (-mx'sin +my'cos) + B
is angle of rotation

Affine need 6 coefficients

m is scale factor

x = A + Cx' + Dy'
y = B - Ex' + Fy'

A and B are translation parameters

Examples

Examples

This example transforms a coverage from digitizer units to realworld coordinates. The original coverage named INCHCOV
has the following control points measured in digitizer inches:
IDTIC
1
2
3
4
5
6

x = (mx'cos +my'sin) + A

XTIC
2.000
12.764
2.052
12.922
2.082
12.662

YTIC
16.946
16.821
1.976
2.013
9.442
9.442

The base map used was in the State Plane Coordinate System
with control points measured in feet. Each tic corresponds to
the following locations:
Tic-IDs
1
2
3
4
5
6

X Coordinates
2,127,791
2,143,469
2,128,000
2,143,729
2,127,944
2,143,320

Y Coordinates
343,183
343,326
320,680
320,912
332,015
332,015

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TRANSFORM INCHCOV STATECOV AFFINE

Affine
X = Ax + By + C

tic
id
1

input
x
2.000

input
y
16.946

output
x
2127791.00

output
y

x
error

343183.00

14.463

y
error
75.499

Y = Dx + Ey + F
2 12.764
A = 1452.230 B = -5.526
D = 15.858
E = 1508.462

C = 2124994.654
F = 317664.385

343326.00 -31.043 -85.363

2.052

1.976

2128000.00 320680.00 -36.290

-2.353

Scale (X,Y) = (1452.317, 1508.433)

4 12.922

2.013

2143729.00

320912.00

20.245

-6.163

Rotation (degrees) = (0.218)

9.442

2127944.00

332015.00

22.016 -74.699

9.442 2143320.00

332015.00

10.609

Translation = (2124994.654, 317664.385)

16.821 2143469.00

2.082

6 12.662

93.079

RMS Error (input, output) = (0.048,71.614)

Numerical Transformation Methods

Construct polynomial expressions to fit the data
Can be used for grid to grid or grid to geographical transformation
Requires large number of coefficients and data points to find
coefficients
1- 3, 2- 6, 3 -10, 4- 15, 5-21
Assumes homogeneity in data
some maps may need to be paneled with separate
transformations for each block.

National Geodetic Datums

North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27)
NAD27 is the standard for most all USGS maps. It used the
Clarke 1866 ellipsoid which fit North America fairly well,
but didn't fit the rest of the world.

North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83)

NAD83 is the current standard for USGS maps. It uses
the General Reference System of 1980 (GRS-80)
ellipsoid which is nearly identical to the WGS84
ellipsoid.

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Datum Shifts

Datum Shifts

Coordinate values resulting from interpreting latitude, longitude,

and height values based on one datum as though they were based
in another datum can cause position errors in three dimensions of
up to one kilometer.

Datum Shifts

OGC -Coordinate Transformation Working

Group (CT-WG)
Formed in April 1998
Developed a specification to provide a common way of identifying
coordinate systems and of accessing coordinate transformation
services that support accuracy calculation.
Users of compliant applications can import data unaware
of its coordinate system.
If the application cannot import data in a given
coordinate system, a compliant server will transform the
coordinates to the native coordinate system.

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