Chapter 4:

Map Fundamentals
Spatial reference system
coordinate reference
system (CRS)
Definition
• A spatial reference system (SRS) or coordinate reference system (CRS) is a
framework used to precisely measure locations on the surface of the Earth
as coordinates.

• It is the abstract mathematics of coordinate systems and analytic

geometry to geographic space, for example, "Universal Transverse
Mercator WGS 84 Zone 16N“

• spatial reference systems are a crucial basis for the sciences and
technologies of Geoinformatics, including cartography, geographic
information systems, surveying, remote sensing, and civil engineering.

• This has led to their standardization in international specifications such as

the EPSG codes and ISO 19111:2007 Geographic information—Spatial
referencing by coordinates, prepared by ISO/TC 211. and OGC(Open
Geospatial Consortium) standards
Components of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS
Specifications

• Any coordinate reference system definition needs to be composed of

several specifications (coordinates system, datum, Projection):

• A coordinate system, a framework for measuring locations, its

definition consists of:
1. a measurable space (whether a plane, a three-dimension
void, or the surface of an object such as the Earth),
2. an origin point,
3. a set of axis vectors starting from the origin, and
4. a unit of measure.
Components of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS
• A horizontal datum, which arrange the abstract coordinate system to
the real space of the Earth.

• A horizontal datum can be defined as a precise reference

framework for measuring geographic coordinates (latitude and
longitude).

• Examples include the World Geodetic System and the 1927 and
1983 North American Datum.

• A datum generally consists of an estimate of the shape of the Earth

(usually an ellipsoid), and one or more control points at established
locations (often marked by physical monuments) for which the
measurement is documented.

• A definition for a projected CRS must also include a choice of map

projection to convert the spherical coordinates specified by the datum
into cartesian coordinates on a planar surface.
Thus, a CRS definition will typically consist of a "stack" of dependent specifications,
as exemplified in the following table:

Ellipsoi Horizontal Unit of

EPSG Code Name CS Type Projection Origin Axes
d Datum Measure
ellipsoid equator/ equator,
GCS WGS degree of
4326 GRS 80 WGS 84 al (lat, N/A prime prime
84 arc
lon) meridian meridian

Transverse
500km
UTM Zone Mercator: equator,
Clarke cartesian west of
26717 17N NAD NAD 27 central 81°W meter
1866 (x,y) (81°W,
27 meridian 81°W, meridian
0°N)
scaled 0.9996

Lambert
Conformal
SPCS Tenn grid east at
Conic: center 600km
essee Zone NAD center
cartesian 86°W, 34°20'N, grid west US survey
6576 NAD 83 GRS 80 83 (2011 point,
(x,y) standard of center foot
(2011) epoch) 86°W
parallels point
ftUS meridian
35°15'N,
36°25'N
Types of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS
• The thousands of spatial reference systems used today are based on a few
general strategies, which have been defined in the EPSG, ISO, and OGC(Open
Geospatial Consortium) standards:
• Geographic coordinate system (or geodetic)
A spherical coordinate system measuring locations directly on the Earth
(modeled as a sphere or ellipsoid) using latitude and longitude.
• Geocentric coordinate system (or Earth-centered Earth-fixed)
A three-dimensional cartesian coordinate
system that models the Earth as a three-
dimensional object, measuring locations from a
center point, usually the center of mass of the
Earth, along x, y, and z axes aligned with
the equator and the prime meridian.
This system is commonly used to track the orbits
of satellites, because they are based on the center
of mass.
Thus, this is the internal coordinate system used
by Satellite navigation systems such as GPS to
compute locations.
Types of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS

• Engineering coordinate system (or local, custom)

• A cartesian coordinate system (2-D or 3-D) that is created adapted for a

small area, often a single engineering project, over which the curvature
of the Earth can be safely approximated as flat without significant
distortion.

• Locations are typically measured directly from an arbitrary origin point

using surveying techniques.

• These may or may not be aligned with a standard projected coordinate

system.

• Local tangent plane coordinates are a type of local coordinate system

used in aviation and marine vehicles.
Types of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS
• Projected coordinate system (or planar, grid)

• A standardized cartesian coordinate system that models the

Earth as a plane, measuring locations from an arbitrary origin
point along x and y axes more or less aligned with the principal
directions.

• Each of these systems is based on a particular Map projection to

create a planar surface from the curved Earth surface.

• These are generally defined and used strategically to minimize

the distortions inherent to projections.

• Common examples include the Universal transverse

mercator (UTM) and national systems such as the British
National Grid, and State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS).
Types of Reference Systems –SRS/CRS

Notes about all types:

• These standards acknowledge that standard reference systems also exist

for measuring elevation using vertical datums and time (e.g. ISO 8601),
which may be combined with a spatial reference system to form
a compound coordinate system for representing three-dimensional
and/or spatio-temporal locations.

• There are also internal systems for measuring location within the context
of an object, such as the rows and columns of pixels in a raster
image, Linear referencing measurements along linear features (e.g.,
highway mileposts), and systems for specifying location within moving
objects such as ships.

• The latter two are often classified as subcategories of engineering

coordinate systems.
Universal Transverse Mercator
projection (UTM)
Note: Projections
• Projections – transformation of curved earth to a flat map; systematic
rendering of the geographic coordinates latitude & longitude graticule
(f, l) to cartesian (X,Y) rectangular coordinate system.
• Projections distort distance, area, direction and shape to greater or lesser
degrees; choose projection that minimizes the distortion of the map theme.
• Points of tangency, standard parallels and secants are areas of no distortion.
• A conformal map has the same scale in all directions.

Scale Scale Factor: 0.9996

1: 42,000,000 (for specific line(s))

Earth Globe Map

Peters Projection

Globe distance Map distance

Earth distance Globe distance
Note: Scale factor
• A map distorts distances (linear distortion) wherever the quotient between
the lengths of an infinitesimally short line as projected onto the projection
surface, and as it originally is on the Earth model, deviates from 1.

Without distortion: length on projected surface / length on earth model = 1

• The quotient is called the scale factor. Unless the projection is conformal at
the point being considered, the scale factor varies by direction around the
point, less or more than 1.
Scale Scale Factor: 0.9996
1: 42,000,000 (for specific line(s))

Globe Map

Peters Projection

Globe distance Map distance

Earth distance Globe distance
 Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Projection
• (UTM) is a map projection system for assigning coordinates to locations on the
surface of the Earth.
• Like the traditional method of latitude and longitude, it is a horizontal position
representation, which means it ignores altitude and treats the earth surface as
a perfect ellipsoid.
• UTM is based completely on the original transverse Mercator, with a secant
cylinder.
• It is a cylindrical projection where the distances and areas are not preserved.
• It is then a conformal projection where the parameters are chosen to minimize
distortion over a defined set of small area (zone).

Tangent Secant
UTM zones Definitions
• The UTM system divides the Earth into 60 zones, each 6° of longitude in width.

• each zone has its own central meridian that is located at exactly the middle of
the zone, 3° on each side of the zone’s central meridian.

• Each zone is projected separately (i.e., the imaginary cylinder will be rotated
around the Earth), which leads to a much smaller distortion compared with the
original transverse Mercator projection.

(Y)

(x)
 UTM zone Definitions
• Zone 1 covers longitude 180° to 174° W (with its central meridian at 177° W); zone numbering
increases eastward to zone 60, which covers longitude 174°E to 180°.

• The polar regions south of 80°S and north of 84°N are excluded.

• Each of the 60 zones uses a transverse Mercator projection that can map a region of large north-
south extent with low distortion.
 Universal Transverse
Mercator projection (UTM)
 UTM zone Definitions
• By using narrow zones of 6° of longitude (up to 668 km) in width and reducing
the scale factor along the central meridian to 0.9996 (a reduction of 1:2500), the
amount of distortion is held below 1 part in 1,000 inside each zone.
1 – 0.9996 = 0.0004 ( 1:2500)
• The reason for selecting this scale factor is to have a more uniformly distributed
scale, with a minimum deviation from one, over the entire zone.
• Secants are 1.5o on either side of the central meridian.
(Y)

(x)
 UTM zone Definitions

• For example, at the equator, the scale factor changes from 0.9996 at the
central meridian to 1.00097 at the edge of the zone, while at midlatitude
 = 45o , the scale changes from 0.9996 at the central meridian to
1.00029 at the edge of the zone.

(Y)

(x)
UTM zone Definitions
• The scale is true along two straight lines on the map approximately 170
kilometers East and West of the central meridian. It is constant along other
straight lines equidistant from the central meridian.
• The scale is less than 1 inside the standard lines and greater than 1 outside
them, but the overall distortion is minimized.

(Y)

(x)
 Latitude bands
• Each zone is segmented into 20 latitude bands.

• Each latitude band is 8 degrees high, and is lettered 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 numerals one and zero).

• The last latitude band, "X", is extended an extra 4 degrees, so it ends at 84°N
latitude, thus covering the northernmost land on Earth.

• Latitude bands "A" and "B" do exist, theoretically, as do bands "Y" and "Z".
These cover the western and eastern sides of the Antarctic and Arctic regions
respectively.

• A convenient mnemonic to remember is that the letter "N" is the first letter in
"northern hemisphere", so any letter coming before "N" in the alphabet is in the
southern hemisphere, and any letter "N" or after is in the northern hemisphere.

Letters order
or number
 Universal Transverse
Mercator projection (UTM)
 Notation
• The combination of a zone and a latitude band defines a grid zone.

• The zone is always written first, followed by the latitude band. For example, New York City would find
itself in zone 18 and latitude band "T", thus the full grid zone reference is "18T".

• Occasionally only N or S following the zone number is added to indicate North or South hemisphere,
however, this notation is ambiguous since, for instance, "50S" can mean southern hemisphere but
also grid zone "50S" in the northern hemisphere.
Grid zones in Africa
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates

Easting and Northing

• Every map projection has a natural origin, e.g., at which the ellipsoid and flat
map surfaces coincide, at which point the projection formulas generate a
coordinate of (0,0).
• To ensure that the northing and easting coordinates on a map are not
negative (thus making measurement, communication, and computation
easier), map projections may set up a false origin, specified in terms of false
northing and false easting values, that offset the true origin.

• This has the desirable effect of making all coordinates within the zone
positive values, being east and north of the origin. Because of this, they are
often referred to as the easting and northing.
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates
• A position on the Earth is given by the UTM
zone number and band letter and
the easting and northing planar coordinate
pair in that zone and band.

• The point of origin of each UTM zone is the

intersection of the equator and the zone's
central meridian.

• To avoid dealing with negative numbers,

the central meridian of each zone is
defined to coincide with 500000 meters
East.

• In any zone a point that has an easting

of 400000 meters is about 100 km west of
the central meridian, the true distance
would be slightly more than 100 km as
measured on Earth because of the
distortion of the projection.
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates

• UTM eastings range from

about 166000 meters
to 834000 meters at the equator.

Here’s Why

1  111km
6  666km = 666, 000m
1
  ( 666, 000 ) = 333, 000
2
500, 000 − 333, 000 = 167, 000
500, 000 + 333, 000 = 833, 000
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates
• In the northern hemisphere
positions are measured northward
from zero at the equator. The
maximum "northing" value is
about 9300000 meters at latitude 84
degrees North, the north end of the
UTM zones. Easting at 84° ranges
from 465,000 mE to 515,000 meE.

• The southern hemisphere's northing

at the equator is set
at 10000000 meters. Northings
decrease southward from
these 10000000 meters to
about 1100000 meters at 80
degrees South, the south end of the
UTM zones.
• Therefore, no point has a negative northing value.
 Origins UTM Coordinate System

Locations are given in y

meters from central N. Hemisphere
meridian (Easting) and origin is
equator (Northing). (500,000m, 0)

(-) Eastings avoided by

giving X value of 500,000 x
m (“false easting”) to the x
Central Meridian
S. Hemisphere
In S. hemisphere, origin is
equator is given “false (500,000m,
northing” of 10,000,000 m y 10,000,000m)
to avoid (-) Northings.
Important Notes:

Δ1 Δ1
phy
lat long

0° 110.574 km 111.320 km 111.320 km

15° 110.649 km 107.550 km

30° 110.852 km 96.486 km .
45° 111.132 km 78.847 km
60° 111.412 km 55.800 km
75° 111.618 km 28.902 km
90° 111.694 km 0.000 km
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates
Example:
Locating UTM zone using latitude Find UTM zone for Jedda City, where it is located
and Longitude at Longitude of 39° 10’ 17” east and Latitude of
21° 29’ 55” north?
Step1: finding the letter order
(number) We should convert the Longitude and Latitude to
North hemisphere fraction:
Letter nbr = ((latitude + 80)/8) + 1 Longitude = 39.171° , Latitude = 21.499°
finding the letter order (number)
South hemisphere: Letter nbr = ((21.499 + 80)/8) + 1 = 13.7
Letter nbr = (Latitude – 80) /8 (we take 13, fraction doesn’t count)
Then, we are in Q quadrant
Step2: finding zone number finding zone number
East of Prime Meridian Zone nbr = (39.171/6)+ 31 = 37.5
Zone nbr = (Longitude/6)+ 31 ( we take 37 as zone number)

West Prime Meridian Then Jeddah location in UTM: Q37 or NQ37

Zone nbr = (Longitude/6) - 30
 Reading UTM’s
For example, grid zone 14 is centered on 99o west and runs
through Texas. This zone covers 96o to 102o west. A 1-km grid is
superimposed onto this map. The grid lines are numbered by
their distance north from the equator and east from an imaginary
base line which is arbitrarily located 500 km west of the central
meridian (so the central meridian becomes the 500,000 m east
grid line). Any point within the grid zone can be fixed by these
two distances (a northing and an easting).
Central meridian
99o

Zone 14

X
500,000
 UTM Coordinates

790,000
600,000
 Reading UTM’s

UTM Coordinates
for central Austin:
Zone 14 R X
621,000 mE,
3,350,000 mN
GPS Reading
Look at the bottom of your map.
• The number 620000mE is read
as, “62,0000 meters East.”
• 62 is short-hand for 620,000,
and is 10000 meters West of
630000mE.

• Look at the left border.

• The number 335

625,000
 Locating a position using UTM coordinates
Important Notes: North and South ambiguity
• For example, the CN Tower is at 43°38′33.24″N 79°23′13.7″W, which is in UTM zone 17, and the grid position
is 630084 m east, 4833438 m north.

• Two points in Zone 17 have these coordinates, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the south; the non-ambiguous format is to
specify the full zone and band, that is, "17T 630084 4833438".

17T

• For example, the CN Tower (Toronto) is

at 43°38′33.24″N 79°23′13.7″W, which is in
N UTM zone 17, and the grid position
is 630084 m east, 4833438 m north.

• Two points in Zone 17 have these

coordinates, one in the northern
S hemisphere and one in the south; the non-
ambiguous format is to specify the full zone
and band, that is, "17T 630084 4833438".