Information about State Plane Coordinate System
The State Plane Coordinate System (SPS or SPCS) is a set of more than 100 geographic coordinate systems designed for specific regions of the United States. Each state contains one or more state plane zones, the boundaries of which usually follow county lines. The system is widely used for geographic data by state and local governments. Its popularity is due to at least two factors. First, it uses a simple cartesian coordinate system to specify locations rather than a more complex spherical coordinate system (the geographic coordinate system of latitude and longitude). By thus ignoring the curvature of the Earth, "plane surveying" methods can be used, speeding up and simplifying calculations. Second, the system is highly accurate within each zone. Outside a specific state plane zone accuracy rapidly declines, thus the system is not useful for regional or national mapping.
Each state plane zone is based on either a Transverse Mercator projection or a Lambert conformal conic projection. The choice between the two map projections is based on the shape of the state and its zones. States that are long in the east-west direction are typically divided into zones that are also long east-west. These zones use the Lambert conformal conic projection, because it is good at maintaining accuracy along an east-west axis. Zones that are long in the north-south direction use the Transverse Mercator projection because it is better at maintaining accuracy along a north-south axis. One part of one state, the panhandle of Alaska, uses the Oblique Mercator projection, since that region lies on a diagonal.
Even though computer processing power has improved radically since the early days of GIS, the size of spatial datasets and the complexity of geoprocessing tasks being demanded of computers have also increased. Thus the state plane coordinate system is still useful.
Originally, the state plane coordinate systems were based on the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27). Later, the more accurate North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) became the standard (a datum is the way a coordinate system is linked to the physical Earth). More recently there has been an effort to increase the accuracy of the NAD83 datum using technology that was not available in 1983. These efforts are known as "High Accuracy Reference Network" (HARN) or "High Precision GPS Network" (HPGN). In addition, the basic unit of distance used is sometimes feet and sometimes meters. Thus a fully described coordinate system often looks something like: "Washington State Plane North, NAD83 HARN, feet". This information is needed in order to accurately transform data from one coordinate system to another.
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Each state plane zone is based on either a Transverse Mercator projection or a Lambert conformal conic projection. The choice between the two map projections is based on the shape of the state and its zones. States that are long in the east-west direction are typically divided into zones that are also long east-west. These zones use the Lambert conformal conic projection, because it is good at maintaining accuracy along an east-west axis. Zones that are long in the north-south direction use the Transverse Mercator projection because it is better at maintaining accuracy along a north-south axis. One part of one state, the panhandle of Alaska, uses the Oblique Mercator projection, since that region lies on a diagonal.
History
The state plane coordinate system came into being during the 1930s. It has been revised several times since then. When computers began to be used for mapping and GIS, the state plane system's cartesian grid system and simplified calculations made spatial processing faster and spatial data easier to work with.Even though computer processing power has improved radically since the early days of GIS, the size of spatial datasets and the complexity of geoprocessing tasks being demanded of computers have also increased. Thus the state plane coordinate system is still useful.
Originally, the state plane coordinate systems were based on the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27). Later, the more accurate North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) became the standard (a datum is the way a coordinate system is linked to the physical Earth). More recently there has been an effort to increase the accuracy of the NAD83 datum using technology that was not available in 1983. These efforts are known as "High Accuracy Reference Network" (HARN) or "High Precision GPS Network" (HPGN). In addition, the basic unit of distance used is sometimes feet and sometimes meters. Thus a fully described coordinate system often looks something like: "Washington State Plane North, NAD83 HARN, feet". This information is needed in order to accurately transform data from one coordinate system to another.
Problems
The main problem with the state plane coordinate system is that each zone uses a different coordinate system. This is not a major problem as long as one's needs are within the boundaries of a given state plane zone, as is the case with most county and city governments. However, the need to transform spatial data from one coordinate system to another can be burdensome. Sometimes a regional area of interest, such as a metropolitan area covering several counties, crosses a state plane zone boundary. The Seattle metropolitan area is an example of this. King County, which includes the City of Seattle, uses the "Washington State Plane North" coordinate system, while Pierce County, which includes the City of Tacoma, uses "Washington State Plane South". Thus any regional agency that wants to combine regional data from local governments has to transform at least some data into a common coordinate system.See also
External links
- National Geodetic Survey (NGS)
- State Plane Coordinate System 1983
- The State Plane Coordinate System, at vterrain.org
coordinate system is a system for assigning an n-tuple of numbers or scalars to each point in an n-dimensional space. "Scalars" in many cases means real numbers, but, depending on context, can mean complex numbers or elements of some other commutative ring.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Geographic data is about much more than electronic pictures of maps.
The geographic data that describes our world allows for city planning, flood prediction and relief, emergency service routing, environmental assessments, wind pattern monitoring and many other applications.
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The geographic data that describes our world allows for city planning, flood prediction and relief, emergency service routing, environmental assessments, wind pattern monitoring and many other applications.
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Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane through two numbers, usually called the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate of the point.
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spherical coordinate system is a coordinate system for representing geometric figures in three dimensions using three coordinates: the radial distance of a point from a fixed origin, the zenith angle from the positive z-axis, and the azimuth angle from the positive x-axis.
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geographic coordinate system enables every location on the earth to be specified by the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system aligned with the spin axis of the Earth.
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equator divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, and has a latitude of 0. Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi, , gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator.
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equator divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, and has a latitude of 0. Longitude is the east-west geographic coordinate measurement most commonly utilized in cartography and global navigation.
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A Transverse Mercator projection is an adaptation of the Mercator projection. Both projections are cylindrical and conformal. However, in a Transverse Mercator projection, the cylinder is rotated 90° (transverse) relative to the equator so that projected surface is aligned with a
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A Lambert conformal conic projection (LCC) is a conic map projection, which is often used for aeronautical charts. In essence, the projection superimposes a cone over the sphere of the Earth, with two reference parallels secant to the globe and intersecting it.
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Views
Graphical projections
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Graphical projections
- Perspective projection
- Parallel projection
- Orthographic projection
- Plan, or floor plan view
- Section
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geographic information system (GIS) (also known as geographical information system, particularly in the UK, and geomatics in Canada) is a system for capturing, storing, analyzing and managing data and associated attributes which are spatially referenced to the
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The North American Datum is the official datum used for the primary geodetic network in North America. In the fields of cartography and land-use there are currently two North American Datums in use: the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) and the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD
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- This article describes a concept from surveying and geodesy. Datum is also the last known position of a submarine in ASW, the singular form of data, and a city in ancient Macedonia, probably on the site of the modern Kavala.
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Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Common name: Puget Sound Metropolitan Area
Largest city
Other cities Seattle
- Tacoma
- Bellevue
- Olympia
Population Ranked 15th in the U.S.
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Common name: Puget Sound Metropolitan Area
Largest city
Other cities Seattle
- Tacoma
- Bellevue
- Olympia
Population Ranked 15th in the U.S.
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King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2000 census was 1,737,034 and in 2006 was an estimated 1,835,300. By population, King is the largest county in Washington, and the 12th largest in the United States.
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The reason for its protection is listed on the protection policy page. The page may still be edited but cannot be moved until unprotected.
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Pierce County is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of Washington. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory [1] [2] , it was named for U.S. President Franklin Pierce.
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Tacoma, Washington
Flag
Seal
Nickname: The City of Destiny
Location of Tacoma in
Pierce County and Washington State
Coordinates:
Country United States
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Flag
Seal
Nickname: The City of Destiny
Location of Tacoma in
Pierce County and Washington State
Coordinates:
Country United States
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The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section.
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The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth. It is used to identify locations on the earth, but differs from the traditional method of latitude and longitude in several respects.
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