Concept

Geographic coordinate conversion

In geodesy, conversion among different geographic coordinate systems is made necessary by the different geographic coordinate systems in use across the world and over time. Coordinate conversion is composed of a number of different types of conversion: format change of geographic coordinates, conversion of coordinate systems, or transformation to different geodetic datums. Geographic coordinate conversion has applications in cartography, surveying, navigation and geographic information systems. In geodesy, geographic coordinate conversion is defined as translation among different coordinate formats or map projections all referenced to the same geodetic datum. A geographic coordinate transformation is a translation among different geodetic datums. Both geographic coordinate conversion and transformation will be considered in this article. This article assumes readers are already familiar with the content in the articles geographic coordinate system and geodetic datum. Informally, specifying a geographic location usually means giving the location's latitude and longitude. The numerical values for latitude and longitude can occur in a number of different units or formats: sexagesimal degree: degrees, minutes, and seconds : 40° 26′ 46′′ N 79° 58′ 56′′ W degrees and decimal minutes: 40° 26.767′ N 79° 58.933′ W decimal degrees: +40.446 -79.982 There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a minute. Therefore, to convert from a degrees minutes seconds format to a decimal degrees format, one may use the formula To convert back from decimal degree format to degrees minutes seconds format, where and are just temporary variables to handle both positive and negative values properly. A coordinate system conversion is a conversion from one coordinate system to another, with both coordinate systems based on the same geodetic datum. Common conversion tasks include conversion between geodetic and earth-centered, earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinates and conversion from one type of map projection to another.

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Geodetic coordinates
Geodetic coordinates are a type of curvilinear orthogonal coordinate system used in geodesy based on a reference ellipsoid. They include geodetic latitude (north/south) φ, longitude (east/west) λ, and ellipsoidal height h (also known as geodetic height). The triad is also known as Earth ellipsoidal coordinates (not to be confused with ellipsoidal-harmonic coordinates). Longitude measures the rotational angle between the zero meridian and the measured point. By convention for the Earth, Moon and Sun, it is expressed in degrees ranging from −180° to +180°.
Local tangent plane coordinates
Local tangent plane coordinates (LTP), also known as local ellipsoidal system, local geodetic coordinate system, or local vertical, local horizontal coordinates (LVLH), are a spatial reference system based on the tangent plane defined by the local vertical direction and the Earth's axis of rotation. It consists of three coordinates: one represents the position along the northern axis, one along the local eastern axis, and one represents the vertical position.
Spatial reference system
A spatial reference system (SRS) or coordinate reference system (CRS) is a framework used to precisely measure locations on the surface of Earth as coordinates. It is thus the application of the abstract mathematics of coordinate systems and analytic geometry to geographic space. A particular SRS specification (for example, "Universal Transverse Mercator WGS 84 Zone 16N") comprises a choice of Earth ellipsoid, horizontal datum, map projection (except in the geographic coordinate system), origin point, and unit of measure.
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