TheGeographicCoordinateSystem

Whatisacoordinatesystem?

CoordinateSystemsarewaysofsplittinguptheworldinordertoformtransferableunits(numbers)
thatrelatetopointsonamap.Theyareveryuseful,asasetofcoordinatevaluescanbegivento
almostanyoneintheworldandtheycanrelatethecoordinatevaluestoareallifeplace.Different
coordinatesystemshavedifferentmethodsofsplittinguptheearth.Acoordinatesystemenables
everylocationontheearthtobespecifiedbyasetofcoordinatesofknownlocationonagrid.There
aretwomajorglobalcoordinatesystems,knowastheGeographicCoordinateSystem(i.e.latitude
andlongitude)andtheUniversalTransverseMercatorSystem(i.e.UTMcoordinates).

OurstudyusestheGeographicCoordinateSystembutthereareothercoordinatesystemsthatdivide
theglobedifferently,liketheUniversalTransverseMercator(orUTM)coordinatesystem,thissystem
dividestheEarthinto60zonesvertically,and20sectionshorizontally.Theyarereportednumerically
aseastingsandnorthings(e.g.630084meast,4833438mnorth).

ThemostwellknowncoordinatesystemistheGeographicCoordinateSystem(GCS),whichuses
measuresoflatitudeandlongitudetodetermineyourlocation.Linesoflatituderunnorthandsouth
paralleltotheequator,withpositivenumbersrepresentingthenorthernhemisphere,negative
numbersrepresentingthesouthernhemisphere,andtheequatorrepresenting0degreeslatitude.
Linesoflongituderuneastandwestparalleltotheprimemeridian,withpositivenumbers
representingtheeasternhemisphereandnegativenumbersrepresentingthewesternhemisphere,
withtheprimemeridianrepresenting0degreeslongitude.Thismaybeunderstoodbylookingatthis
gridinrelationtoamapoftheworld(seefigure1).

Figure1.GeographicCoordinateSystemgridwithexamplepoints.

Inthisimageyoucanseetheglobeisdividedintogridsquaresusinglinesoflongitudeandlatitude.Itis
importantthatyouunderstandthedifferenceinlongitudeandlatitudeandhowwewritelocationsin

longitudeandlatitudeform.Therearethreepointsonthegridmapmarkedinred,blueandgreen.The
pointsareallinverydifferentlocationsbutshareeitherthesamelongitudeorlatitudewithoneofthe
otherpoints.Thegreenandbluepointsareonsamelatitude,+30(horizontalline,paralleltothe
equator).Theredandbluepointsareonthesamelongitude,+30(verticalline,paralleltotheprime
meridian).Asyoucansee,latitudeandlongitudecanhavethesamenumericalvalue(+30inthiscase)
butasthesevaluesinfactindicateverydifferentpointsonthelandscapeandso,mustbewrittenina
universalformatsowecanknowthedifferencebetweenthetwo.

CoordinateFormatsandNotation

LatitudeandlongitudeunitsfortheGeographicCoordinateSystemarerepresentedinDegrees,
Minutes,andSecondswhere1Degree=60nauticalmiles(69.09miles);1Minute=1nauticalmile;and1
Second=100.8feet.Foreasyinmoderndataanalysis(whichlikessinglenumbers),severalother
formatsforreportinglatitudeandlongitudehavebecomepopular.

Mostorganizationsusuallytellyouwhichunitstheyuse,butifnot,youcanusuallytellbytheformatin
whichthecoordinatesarewritten.IfalocationisgiveninDecimalDegrees,thecoordinateisawhole
numberthatwillhave2numbersbeforethedecimalpoint,5ormoreafterthedecimalpointandmay
befollowedbythedegreessymbol(i.e.43.92741).Inotherformats,thenumbersaresplitupandthe
decimalandthedegreesymbolwillappearinsidethenumber.Forexample,DegreeDecimalMinutes
hasanumberfollowedbythedegreesymbolandthenanothernumberwithadecimalinit(i.e.64
68.445latitude,9242.367longitude).Degree,MinutesandSeconds,hasanumberfollowedbythe
degreesymbol,asecondnumberfollowedbyanaccentsymbol()andthenanothernumberwitha
decimalinit(i.e.4440'16.75latitude,9337'10.05longitude).

TomakesurethatyourGPSunitissettotherightformatsforyourstudyyouwillneedtolearnhowto
seewhatformatyourGPSunitissetinandchangeitifnecessary.SeetheGPSSettingsand
InstructionssectioninFindingaLocationUsingaGPSUnit.

Commonpracticereportsthelatitudevaluefirst,thenthelongitudevalue,separatedbyacomma.For
thelatitudecoordinate,youmayalsoseeanindicationofthedirectionfromtheequator,usingeither
thesymbolsorS(degreesSouth);andforthelongitude,thedirectionfromtheprimemeridian,
usingtheminussymbolsorW(degreesWest).Forexample,thebluepointintheFigure1abovehas
thelatitude&longitudecoordinatesof30,30,butcanalsobewrittenas30,30Wor30,30.If
youfindthesystemofwritingcoordinatesconfusingitmayjustbesimplesttowritelatitudeand
longitudewiththeircorrespondingvalues.Asyoucansee,mostcoordinatesinNorthAmericahavea
positivenumberforthelatitudeandanegativenumberforthelongitude.

Ifyoudliketopractice,takeamomenttoworkoutthecoordinatesforgreenandredpointsinFigure
1andthencheckyouranswersbelow(ifyougetthemincorrectyoumaywanttoreadoverthissection
again).

Answers
Greenpoint=30,90or30Latitude,90Longitude.
Redpoint=30,30or30Latitude,30Longitude.

WhatIsADatumAndWhyDoWeCare!?
Anotherimportantvariabletoconsiderwhentalkingaboutlocationisthedatum.TheEarthisnota
perfectsphere,iffact,itisathreedimensionalovalshape(similarinshapetotheFigure2).Thisovallike
shapemakesmappingtheearthalittlemorecomplicatedastheEarthdoesnotfitcompletelytoour
mappinggridsystems(whichwasdevelopedforperfectsphere).Datumsareknowngeographicshapes
oftheEarth,whichwecanapplytomapssocoordinatesystemscanstillworkperfectly.Datumscanbe
classifiedintotwobroadcategories:localreferencingdatumsandglobalreferencingdatums.Alocal
referencingdatumisadatumthathasbeendevelopedforasetlocalareaoftenonanationallevel.A
globalreferencingdatumbestapproximatesthesizeandshapeoftheEarthasawhole(onan
internationallevel)butisnotgoodatpredictingaccuratecoordinatesonanationalscale.

Figure2.AnapproximationoftheEarthsshape

TheNorthAmericanDatum(orNAD)isthespecificdatumfortheUSitisoftenfollowedbytwo
numbers,whichindicatethedatethisdatumwasdevelopede.g.NAD27istheNorthAmericanDatumof
1927.DifferentNADScorrespondtodifferentgeographicshapesoftheUS,soitisusefultokeepthe
NADthesamethroughoutyourstudyotherwiseyourlocationscanbewrong.
GPSunitshaveinterchangeableNADoptionsintheresettings.TheGLWWstudyusesNAD83forallits
dataentry,ifyourGPSissettoadifferentNADsettingyouwillneedtochangeittoNAD83.Seethe
GPSSettingsandInstructionssectioninFindingaLocationUsingaGPSUnit.Differentonline
mappingtoolsusedifferentdatumstogeneratethecoordinatesforagivenlocation.Thedatumused
byiTouchMapisNAD83.Ifyouuseadifferentonlinemappingtooltogetyourlatitudeandlongitude
coordinatesitisdifficulttoknowwhatdatumtheymaybeusing(theyalmostneverreportit).

WanttoreadevenMOREaboutcoordinatesystems?
CheckoutthelinktoatutorialdevelopedbyCitSci.org,Coordinatesystems
<http://citsci.org/DH.php?WC=/WS/CitSci/Tutorials_Wisconsin/Tutorial2_Static.html>.
Youcanfindotherinterestingtutorialsdevelopedforcitizenscientiststhereaswell.