FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCES
Built Environmental
Geodesy II

COORDINATE SYSTEMS

H. Kanowa
 SPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS
• Maps (analog or digital) and geospatial databases
(vector or raster) are related to some location.
• Spatial coordinate systems are used to locate data on
the surface of the Earth or on a selected reference
surface
• Coordinate systems are used to define location of data or registration
of data
 TYPES OF SPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS

• 3D Geographic Coordinates (φ, λ,h)

• 3D Cartesian Coordinates (X, Y, Z)
• 3D Polar Coordinates (α,d, r)
• Plane Coordinates system
– 2D Cartesian Coordinate System (x, y)
 TYPES OF SPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS
P (45°, 345) Y

α = 45°
P (200,225)
d = 345

Origin X
Geographic
coordinates (φ, λ) Plane rectangular coordinates (x, y)
Polar coordinates

The longitude λ is the angle between the meridian ellipse which passes through Greenwich and the meridian ellipse containing the point in question.

The latitude φ of a point is the angle between the ellipsoidal normal through the point “P” and the Equatorial plane.
 GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES
A geographic coordinate system - definitions:
• is a method for describing the position of a geographic location on the Earth's surface
using spherical measures of latitude and longitude
• Is the primary location reference system for the earth.

• Is a reference system that uses latitude and longitude to define the locations of points
on the surface of a spheroid or ellipsoid
– These are measurements of the angles (in degrees) from the center of the Earth to a point on the Earth's
surface
– A geographic coordinate system definition includes a datum, prime meridian, and angular unit.

– It is used in cartography for all basic location identification

• The system’s starting points are north and south poles

– Where the rotational axis intersects the earth’s surface

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 GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES

Geographical system - definitions:

• The longitude λ is the angle between the meridian ellipse which
passes through Greenwich and the meridian ellipse containing
the point in question.
• The latitude φ of a point is the angle between the ellipsoidal
normal through the point “P” and the Equatorial plane.

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 GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES
» Angles of latitude and longitude

7
 SPATIAL GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES
• They are obtained by introducing the ellipsoidal height
“h” to the system.
• The ellipsoidal height of a point “P” is the vertical
distance of the point in question above the ellipsoid.
— These are mathematically defined, 3-dimensional polar coordinates: two angles Phi and Lambda (latitude and longitude) and a scalar: H, the height
above the chosen spheroid

Spatial geographic
coordinates (φ, λ,h)
 GEOCENTRIC COORDINATE SYSTEM

• Geocentric coordinates (x, y, z)

– The system has its origin at mass centre of the
Earth with
• The x and y axes are in the plane of the equator

• The x axis passes through the meridian of Greenwich and the z-axis
coincides with the earth’s axis of rotation.
• The three axes are orthogonal and form a right-handed system
GEOCENTRIC COORDINATE SYSTEM Cont……

• The rotational axis of the earth changes its position

with time (polar motion)
– As a result the mean position of the north pole in
the year 1903 is used
• This mean position was determined based on the
observations between 1900 and 1905 (called
“Conventional International Origin” abbreviated as CIO)
GEOCENTRIC COORDINATE SYSTEM Cont……

Conventional International Origin (CIO)

The system is used by World Geodetic

Systems (WGS)84 and International
Terresteorial Reference System
 PLANE COORDINATE SYSTEM
• They are two types:
– Cartesian Coordinates (named after Descartes)
– Polar Coordinates

Y
.p

α d
. P(200,150)

X Polar coordinates P(α,d)

Cartesian coordinates P (200, 150)
 MAP PROJECTIONS
• The curved earth’s surface (approximated by an ellipsoid or a
sphere) is transformed to a plane surface of the map – by means
of map projections
– Each point on reference surface of the Earth with geographic coordinates
φ, λ transformed into a set of Cartesian coordinates (x, y) representing
positions on the map
• The geographic coordinates (φ, λ) are transformed to Cartesian coordinates ( x, y)
– X, Y map projection = f(φ, λ ) Forward Equation
 TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS
• The map projections can be categorized in terms of:
– Class /Developable surface

– Aspect

– Properties to be preserved on the output map

– Name of the inventor

 TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS continues..

• Map projection categorized by class

– Azimuthal/ zenithal
– Cylindrical
– Conical

• Map projection categorized by aspect of the intermediate

surface
– Normal
– Transverse
– Oblique
– polar – it is tangential to the poles
– Equatorial – can be tangent or secant plane projection
 TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS
categorized by class

• Azimuthal- The earth projected on a planar map

• Cylindrical - The earth projected on a map
wrapped around a globe as a cylinder

• Conical - The earth projected on a map formed into a

cone
 TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS continues..

• Map projection categorized by property to be preserved

– Conformity –
• It correctly represents angles and shapes correctly at infinitely small locations.
• Shapes and angles are only slightly distorted as the region becomes bigger.
• At any point the scale is the same in all directions.
• Meridians and parallels intersect at right angles
 TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS continues..

• Map projection categorized by property to be preserved

– Equivalent – also known as equal-area.
• It correctly represents area of the sphere on the map
• When used on small scale maps showing large regions, angles and shape distortions
are considerable. E.g.. Peters projection

– Equidistance
• Represents distances correctly – distances can be shown at nominal map scale.
• The scale on the map is correct along the meridians, it is said be equidistant along the
meridians and if it is correct along the parallels it is said to be equidistance along
parallels
TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS

Azimuthal/Polar/ tangential
Cylindrical Secant conical

Transverse Mercator
TYPES OF MAP PROJECTIONS continues..

• Map Projection systems can be categorized by the

name of the inventor
 Mercator

 Lambert

 Robinson

 Cassini etc.
 Each will also need addition description to be recognized. E.g.
Lambert’s conical conformal with standard parallels
Some examples of Map Projections

• Polar stereographic azimuthal projection with secant projection plane

• Lambert conformal conic projection with two standard parallels

•Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection with equidistant at the

equator
•Transverse Mercator projection with secant projection plane
 SELECTING AN APPROPRIATE MAP
PROJECTION
The selection of map projection has to be made on the
basis of:
• shape and size of the area to be mapped
 This determines the class of the projection to be used e.g. for large rectangular
areas – cylindrical projection is appropriate; a triangular area –conic projection is
the suitable one.
 the position of the geographical area on the reference surface
(sphere or ellipsoid)
 determines the aspect of the projection
 the purpose of the map e.g. maps portraying areal features should
have correct areas hence equal-area projection should be used.
the properties of the resulting map to be preserved e.g. area, angles,
distances
 PROJECTION SYSTEMS FOR TOPOGRAPHIC AND
LARGE SCALE MAPPING
• Considering the purpose:
– Conformity and equidistance are the most important properties for
topographic and large scale maps
– Equidistance is possible only in a limited sense, but it can be improved by
using secant projection planes
– A conformal projection system represents angles and shapes correctly at
infinitely small locations.
Examples of conformal projections are:- Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Transverse
Mercator, Lambart conformal conic, Stereographic
UTM projection is a conformal cylindrical projection using a secant cylinder, this results into
conformity and reasonable equidistance for topographic and large scale maps
UTM is one of the international standard projection
 COMMONLY USED MAP PROJECTIONS
• UTM projection is a worldwide accepted projection for
topographic mapping purposes
– It is a version of the Transverse Mercator projection but with:
A transverse secant cylinder
30 positions of the cylinder each considered twice
It is designated to cover the whole world ( excluding the polar regions)
It has 60 narrow longitudinal zones of 6 degrees longitude in width which are
numbered 1 to 60 and 8 degrees
Each zone has it’s own Cartesian coordinates system and Central Meridian (CM) and
along each CM the scale factor is 0.9996
The central meridian has been given an Easting value of 500,000m (to avoid
negatives)
 COMMONLY USED GRID REFERENCE
SYSTEMS
• The Universal Transverse Mercator Grid (U.T.M.)
• Universal Polar Stereographic Grid (U.P.S.)
• Gauss Conformal Co-Ordinate System
 PROCEDURES OF ESTABLISHING PLANE RECTANGULAR
COORDINATE SYSTEMS ON THE MAP
• The map is made by transforming the spherical surface to a plane
by map projection system.
• A rectangular plane coordinate grid is placed over a map.
• The coordinate grid is tied on the map by placing the origin of the
coordinate grid near the centre of the area of interest on the map.
• The perpendicular axes of the grid are usually made to coincide
with the straight line meridians and parallels, if they exist.
• To locate a point on the map, the X and Y coordinates of its
position are specified. The pair of coordinates (abscissa and
ordinate) of a point is called a GRID REFERENCE.
 The Universal Transverse Mercator Grid
(U.T.M.)
• It is based on the Transverse Mercator Projection
• It has been used for topographic mapping by many countries
• The world has been divided into 60 zones from latitude 84˚N to 80˚S
• Each zone extends for 6˚ of longitude and are numbered 1 to 60
from longitude 180˚ reading eastwards
• Each 6˚ column is divided into quadrilaterals of 8˚ of latitude
• Each quadrilateral is assigned a number-letter combination with I
and O omitted.
• The origin of each zone is the intersection of the central meridian
and the equator.
• Each 6˚ by 8˚ quadrilateral is divided into 100,000 metre square
zone.
 U.T.M. GRID
• False origins have been assumed by both
northern and southern regions
• For the southern, it is 500000 metres west and
10,000,000 metres south of true origin, giving
the true origin false coordinate of 500,000 mE
and 10,000,000 mN
• The false easting for the northern hemisphere is
located 500,000 metres west of the true origin,
which gives the true coordinates of 500,000 mE
and 000 mN
 UNIVERSAL POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC GRID
(U.P.S)
• U.P.S grid is used above 84˚N and 80˚S (the polar regions).
• The two U.P.S. grids are each divided into two zones along the
180˚ to 0˚ meridians and given a letter designation.
• The west half of the north polar zone is designated grid zone Y
and the east half as Z.
• The west longitude half of the south polar zone is designated A,
the east half B.
• The false eastings and northings of the poles are given the value
of 2,000,000 metres in both zones.
• The grid zones are divided into 100,000 metre squares as in UTM
– UTM grid is impractical for Polar Regions due to the convergence of the
meridians.
 U.P.S grid
• A secant case of stereographic projection
centred on the pole is used.
• The SF vary from parallel to parallel.
– The projection arranges the scale so that the SFs
are constant along the parallels (circles in this case)
GAUSS CONFORMAL CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM
• is a grid reference system based on the Transverse
Mercator Projection
• is widely used in central and southern Africa
• The projection is divided into 2˚ Zones with the
central meridian of these zones at every odd
number longitude.
• These zones are identified by Lo.31, Lo.33, Lo35,
Lo.37 etc
• Lo is the abbreviation of longitude and the
number is the central meridian.
GAUSS CONFORMAL CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM
• The true origin of each zone is the intersection of the equator
and the central meridian and the numbering starts from 0 at
this point
• This implies that the positive and negative coordinate values are
used instead of Eastings and Northings as in the UTM Grid.
• The coordinates are read in X and Y
• The entire x – coordinates south of the equator have a positive
value and their coordinates are positive to the west of the
central meridian and negative to the east.
• The Gauss conformal coordinate system is mainly used for
cadastral purposes because the narrow 2˚bands restrict
distortion to a small amount, which is easily determined.
 References
» Robinson, H.A., Morrison, J.L., Muehrcke, A., Kimerling, J. & Guptill, S.C.
(2009). Elements of Cartography, Wiley, New Jersey.
» Chang, K.T. (2008). Introduction to Geographic Information Systems.
McGraw Hill, New York.
» de By R.A., Knippers, R., & Weir M.J.C. (2008). Principles of Geographic
Information Systems (3rd Edition). ITC Text Books series, The International
Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), The
Netherlands.
» O’Sullivan, D. & Unwin, D. J. (2010). Geographic Information Analysis (2nd
Edition).Wiley, New York.
» Robinson, H. A.& Morrison, J.L. (2009). Elements of Cartography. Wiley, New
York
REFERENCES
•ITC PoGIS Series Text Book– 3rd Edition
•ITC Cartography Lecture Notes by Dr. Richard A. Knippers,