Map Datums, Coordinate Systems

and projection
Main objectives:
• Reference surfaces.
-Topographical surface, Ellipsoidal surface, Geiod surface.
• Map Datums for horizontal coordinates and heights.
-Types, Geodetic datumes used in Ghana.
• Coordinate systems and Frameworks.
-Types of coordinate systems(ellipsoidal or geodetic coordinates,cartesian
coordinates, projected coordinates), coordinate conversion and
Transformation.
• Map projections
-Definition, properties or preserved features of map projections, Transverse
Mercator projection, Universal Transverse Mercator Projection.
• Scale Distortion and Analysis on Ghana’s Transverse Mercator Projection.
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 Reference surfaces for mapping

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The Ellipsoid

To give the size and shape of the ellipsoid requires the semi
major radius a and the semi minor radius b
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• Best model for the earth is a an ellipsoid also called spheroid (sphere
flattened at the two poles) for horizontal coordinate definition.
• For purposes of height coordinates use a surface of equal gravity potential
called geoid.
• So we use a different surface, the ellipsoid for horizontal coordinates and the
geoid for height definitions.
• Treat the two separately and independently for now.

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• These two parameters are related to two other parameters called the Flattening
(f) and the first eccentricity (e) or the second eccentricity e’ by:
, ,
• Typical values of the parameters for the WGS84 ellipsoid are a=
6378137.0 m b = 6356752.31 m
f = 1/298.26 and e = 0.0818187

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• On ellipsoid, naturally the type of coordinates we can define are latitudes
and longitudes + (maybe ellipsoidal heights)
• Latitude is angle a perpendicular line through a point on the surface makes
with equatorial plane (see figure below).
• All points on surface that have same latitude value joined together by a circle
and also erroneously called latitude.
• Also angle between Meridian line through point on the surface and the
Meridian line passing through Greenwich is called the longitude (see figure
below).
• So each position is defined by

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07/30/2024 8
Local and global ellipsoids
• For local ellipsoids, the ellipsoid is chosen in such way that it best fits the surface
of the area of interest (the country)
• Therefore each country may use a different ellipsoid depending on what best
fits that country.
• In this way, each country would have a different definition of its coordinates.
• Note that the latitude and longitude values measured for the same point may
differ if a different ellipsoid is used.
• Global ellipsoid is chosen so it is the best fitting for the whole globe. Example
of a global ellipsoid is the WGS72, and the WGS84

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 A list of some local Ellipsoids
Name Semi-Major Axis -a Semi-Minor Axis - b 1/Flattening
(Km) (km)
Airy 6377.563 6356.257 299.32
Modified Airy 6377.340 6356.034 299.32
Australian National 6378.160 6356.775 298.25
Bessel 1841 6377.397 6356.079 299.15
Clarke 1866 6378.206 6356.584 294.98
Clarke 1880 6378.249 6356.516 293.46
Ghana War Office 6378.300 6356.752 296.00
Everest 6377.276 6356.075 300.80
Fischer 1960 6378.155 6356.773 298.30
Helmert 1906 6378.200 6356.818 298.30
Indonesian 1974 6378.160 6356.774 298.25
International 6378.388 6356.912 297.00
Krassovsky 6378.245 6356.863 298.30
South American 1969 6378.160 6356.774 298.25
WGS 72 6378.135 6356.751 298.26
GRS 80 6378.137 6356.752 298.257
WGS 84 6378.137 6356.752 298.257

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• The WGS84 ellipsoid is defined for global mapping and GPS equipment use
it for the coordinates they give.

• If we use this, the advantage then is that We can represent any point on the
Earth’s surface as accurately as our measurement techniques allow us.

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 Map Datums
• Datums in the real sense of the word means, an accepted point that have values
defined for it from which the values of all other points can be determined.
• This means the coordinates of all locations on the earth are based on datums.
• Ordinarily, the word means facts which are known, from which other conclusions can be
drawn.
• When used with reference systems, the origin points with assigned values could then be
used for deriving values of other points.
• Datum refers to a set of parameters (values) and control points used to define the shape of
the earth, the origin and the orientation of the coordinate system used by a country.
• One may therefore define Horizontal datums for horizontal measurements, Vertical Datums
for height measurements and combined Datums both horizontal and vertical measurements.
• Let us take geographic horizontal coordinates first.
• We first of all select an ellipsoid with defined a and f values for our measurement.

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Datum for Local and global ellipsoids
. For local ellipsoids, the ellipsoid is chosen in such way that it best fits the
surface of the area of interest (the country)
. Therefore each country may use a different ellipsoid depending on what best
fits that country.
. In this way, each country would have a different definition of its
coordinates.
. Note that the latitude and longitude values measured for the same point may
differ if a different ellipsoid is used.
. Global ellipsoid is chosen so it is the best fitting for the whole globe.
Example of a global ellipsoid is the WGS72, and the WGS84
 Datum for Ghana

Currently we have two local datums;

•Accra Datum – 1926 and
•Leigon Datum - 1977

Both having the same Projection System (Transverse Projection)

But both have different datum ellipsoids with different semi- major,
semi-minor and inverse flattening
 Ghana- Old System
•The War Office Ellipsoid uses Transverse Mercator
Projection on the Accra Datum

• The Clarke 1880 Ellipsoid uses the same Transverse

Mercator Projection like the War Office Ellipsoid

• Non geocentric system

• Heights based on mean sea level

 Ghana- Old System- cont.
With the formulation of the following policies;

• Survey and Mapping,

• National Spatial Data Infrastructure,
• Geodetic Reference Network

Ghana is moving into a;

geocentric coordinate system, with
one geocentric ellipsoid,
one projection system,
same datum and
metric system;
 Horizontal Datum

• A Horizontal Datum comprises of a base reference for horizontal

coordinates.

• It includes the position of an initial point of origin and an ellipsoid that

models the surface of the earth in the region of interest.

• Complete Datum definition therefore consists of the origin point of the

X,Y,Z, axis (three parameters), the orientation of the axes (three
parameters), the ellipsoid used in terms of its shape and size (two
parameters) [Steed, J., 1990].
 Traditional Horizontal Datums
• Global datum is defined by WGS84 ellipsoid with values;
• Semi-major Axis: a = 6378137 m,
• Semi-minor Axis: b = 6356752.3142m,
• Flattening Ratio: f=(a-b)/a = 1/298.257223563)

• Ghana Horizontal Datum is defined by War Office ellipsoid with

values;
• Semi-major Axis: a= 6378299.996 m.
• Semi-minor Axis: b=6356751.69m. and
• Flattening Ratio: f=1/296)
 Traditional Horizontal Datums- cont.
• Positional coordinate values on Global Datum on WGS84 Ellipsoid
• Lat: N 06° 04' 49.84347"
• Long: E 0° 03 ' 0.85954“

• Positional coordinate values on Ghana Datum on War Office

Ellipsoid
• Lat :N 06 ° 04 ' 39.9216 "
• Long: E 0 ° 02 ' 59.7823 “

• Separation difference between the points on the different datum

definitions is 306.6m. which is more than 1000 feet.
Datum Conversions

Datum conversions are accomplished by various methods.

1. Simple three parameter conversion between latitude, longitude, and
height in different datums can be accomplished by conversion through
Earth-Centered, Earth Fixed XYZ Cartesian coordinates in one
reference datum and three origin offsets that approximate differences in
rotation, translation and scale.
Datum Conversions cont.

• Applying the 3 parameter shifts converts the Cartesian XYZ based on WGS84 to
War office XYZ and vice versa
• Then the Cartesian values can be converted back to geodetic coordinates of the
new ellipsoid
• Three axis so three rotation parameters in addition to the 3 shift parameters
making 6 parameters in addition to a scale parameter to account for distance
• datum conversion is based on seven parameter transformations that include three
translation parameters, three rotation parameters and a scale parameter
Datum Conversions cont.

• The Standard Molodensky formulas can be used to convert latitude,

longitude, and ellipsoid height in one datum to another datum if the
Delta XYZ constants for that conversion are available and ECEF XYZ
coordinates are not required.

• The process of converting coordinates from one coordinate system to

another is called Transformation.
Coordinates Transformation
• The process of converting coordinates from one coordinate system to
another is called coordinate transformation.

• There are a number of ways of defining the relationship between one

reference system and another.

1. Direct transformation by grid-on-grid

Eg. Using the linear conformal similarity or the affine
transformations.

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  X 1 , Y1   X , Y 

X  aX 1  bY1  c Y  bX 1  aY1  d similarity

X  aX 1  bY1  c Y   dX 1  eY1  f affine

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• The above method is only suitable for coordinates
defined for small areas only.
• Again it would only work well if the two regions for
which these coordinates are defined are close together
else earth curvature would need to be considered.

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 Projection B
Projection C
Projection A

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• Usually we instead would define the transformation
between our local/National datum and WGS84.

• Then the WGS84 coordinates can then be an intermediary

in the transformation.

• The procedure generally is as below:

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• Then We selected the equator and gave it a value of 0 latitude so all other angles
are measured and based on it.
• Similarly for longitudes, we selected the Greenwich Meridian for 0 and based on
that we can measure all other longitude values.
• So if we were to define datum for this, we ought to give the Ellipsoid, its
parameters (a, f), the latitude of origin, the longitude of origin and the values
assigned to these!
• In practice we can have different datums leading to different coordinates for the
same points. Eg. If we change the ellipsoid, we have a new datum definition.

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 Datum Conversions/Coordinate Transformation
• Datum conversions are accomplished by various methods.
1. Simple three parameter conversion between latitude, longitude,
and height in different datums can be accomplished by
conversion through Earth-Centered, Earth Fixed XYZ Cartesian
coordinates in one reference datum and three origin offsets that
approximate differences in rotation, translation and scale.

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Applying the 3 parameter shifts converts the Cartesian
XYZ based on WGS84 to War office XYZ and vice versa.
Then the Cartesian values can be converted back to
geodetic coordinates of the new ellipsoid.

X  X  X 
Y    Y   Y 
     
 Z  wgs 84 Z  (transformation  Z  waroffice.
parameters )

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• 2. Generally, ellipsoid axis may not be necessarily
Three axis so three rotation parameters in addition to the 3 shift
parameters making 6 parameters in addition to a scale parameter
to account for distance reductions give 7 parameters.

• A complete datum conversion is based on seven parameter

transformations that include three translation parameters, three
rotation parameters and a scale parameter.

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Therefore, addition to the shift DX, DY, DZ, we
include rotation RX, RY, RZ and scale S for the
complete datum transformation.

 X B   X A   x   S Rz  R y   X A 
 Y    Y        R S R   Y 
      
B A Y Z X  A 
 Z B   Z A   Z   RY  R X S   Z A 
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Coordinate transformations stages.

• Stage 1: The projected coordinates are converted to spherical

coordinates based on the local ellipsoid.

• Stage 2: The geographic coordinates are changed to Cartesian

XYZ coordinates which we said are only used internally.
• Stage 3: This is the stage where parameters are applied and they convert
the Cartesian XYZ coordinates based on the local ellipsoid to a new set of
Cartesian values based on WGS84 ellipsoid.
• Stage 4: The Cartesian coordinates based on WGS84 ellipsoid are
converted to geographic coordinates.

• Stage 5: Geographic coordinates are projected to UTM coordinates.

• The stage where we put equations shows we can transform the geographic
coordinates directly using either molodensky equation or multiple
regression equation.

• the Standard Molodensky formulas can be used to

convert latitude, longitude, and ellipsoid height in one
datum to another datum if the Delta XYZ constants for
that conversion are available and ECEF XYZ coordinates
are not required.
 TRANSFORMATION MODELS
Methods of defining the relationship between one reference system and another

Stage 3 3 7 10

Stage 2 Stage 4

Equations

Stage 1 Stage 5

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Coordinate transformations from local projected coordintes to WGS
84 UTM coordintes
Stage 1: The projected coordinates are converted to spherical coordinates based on the local
ellipsoid.

Stage 2: The geographic coordinates are changed to Cartesian XYZ coordinates of the local
ellipsoid, which we said are only used internally.

Stage 3: This is the stage where parameters are applied and they convert the Cartesian XYZ
coordinates based on the local ellipsoid to a new set of Cartesian values based on WGS84 ellipsoid.
Stage 4: The Cartesian coordinates based on WGS84 ellipsoid are converted to geographic
coordinates.
Stage 5: Geographic coordinates are projected to UTM coordinates.
The stage where we put equations shows we can transform the geographic coordinates directly using
either molodensky equation or multiple regression equation
Map Projection
• Definition, properties or preserved features of map projection
• Transverse Mercator Projection
• Universal Transverse Mercator projection
• Scale Distortion and Analysis on Ghana’s Transverse projection.

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 Definition & Properties of Map Projection
• As stated earlier, projection occurs when a Map projection equation is used
to convert geodetic coordinates to equivalent plane coordinates used on
maps.
• the map attempts to represent features measured on the curved surface of
the Earth on a plane paper using Map coordinates.
• Map coordinates use a 2-D Cartesian-like system in which
the two axes are known as northings (latitudes) and
eastings (departures).
• The origin of the system is not at the center of the earth
but at a chosen point (false origin) on the surface.

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Properties of Map Projection
• An issue with all projections is that they have to distort or change in
some way the representation of shape, area, direction, or distance of
land features or graticule in one way or another, in order to flatten the
globe to a piece of paper.
• Some projections are good at keeping the true shape of land features
on a flat map, but they make the representation of distance on a map
longer or shorter than it is in real life, or the direction of features may
not be correct, or the representation of the area of a country or ocean,
may not be representative of the actual area of that feature in real life.
Features of Various Projections
• Shape: Map projections that represent the true or correct shape of the earth’s
features are called conformal projections. Usually, these map projections can only
show small areas of the earth’s surface at one time.
• Area: Other projections, called ‘equal-area’ projections, are drawn so that they
illustrate the same representation of the area of a feature. An example of an equal-
area map is called a sinusoidal.
• Distance: Equidistant maps, or maps that keep the correct
representation of actual distance on the earth are very important to
travelers. An example of an equidistant map projection is a ‘polar
azimuthal equidistant’ projection.
Features of Various Projections cont..
• Direction: Another feature of map projection is direction. The shortest
distance between two points is a straight line, except on a globe.
NB
• Map projections are very important when more than one data source is
used. Different types of projections are used for specific areas of the
earth to minimize the distortions for that part of the globe. Map
projections are very efficient for managing spatial data for small areas,
because only a known amount of distortion will be introduced through
the map projection transformation.
Types of Map Projection

• There are many types of map projections. There are different criteria
considered for the classification, they are map projections according to
the developable surface, map projections according to the method of
deviation (source of light) and the map projection according to the
global properties.
• According to the method of deviation, map projections are classified
as:
• Perspective projection, Non-perspective projection and
Mathematical or conventional projection.
• According to the global properties, map projections are classified as:
• Homographic or equivalent or equal area projection, Orthomorphic
or conformal projection and Azimuthal or correct bearings
projection
• The map projections according to the projection surface are
classified as:
• Conic projection, Cylindrical projection and Planar or azimuthal
projection
So why don’t we just use the WGS84 ellipsoid + geographic coordinates for all
our mapping?

1. We will encounter complex and time-consuming arithmetic calculations in

determining the distance between two points.
2. Similarly calculating for bearings from geographic coordinates not straight-
forward and also forward and back bearings don’t differ by 180 degrees.
3. Latitude-longitude numbers plotted directly on paper would result in greatly
distorted figures.
4. Equipment available earlier were those that allowed us to measure linear
distances and angles/bearings but not coordinates directly.
5. We would always draw results on flat paper not on a globe and we can not use
spherical coordinates for that representation.
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• The Way out is to use projected coordinates?
• The earth is round but maps are flat.
• Getting information from a curved surface to a flat one
involves a mathematical formula called a projection
formula.
• The Resulting coordinates which are now defined for a
plane surface are called projected coordinates.

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• Advantages of using projected coordinates.
• Calculations of distances between points are trivially done.
• Coordinates are designed for plane surface so can be drawn without distortion,
• Graphic representations are realistic, provided the area covered is not too large.
• Disadvantages of a projected coordinate system
• All projections introduce errors.
• Depending on the projection, these errors are in distances, sizes, shapes, or
directions.
• Converting or transforming from one projected coordinate system to another is not
straight forward but would introduce errors because axis may not be aligned to
each other.

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• Projected coordinates are given as Easting and Northings.

• Sometimes we represent them as X and Y values but this

must be differentiated strictly from Cartesian coordinates
which are used only internally i.e. not for coordinate
displays.
• We therefore discuss Map projections.

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• Let us narrow this down now to the different projected coordinates used in
Ghana at present!!
Different projected coordinates in Ghana.
1. National projected grid coordinates based on Ghana War office
ellipsoid.
2. National projected grid coordinates based on Clarke 1880
ellipsoid (erroneously called severally as Ghana meter grid or
legion datum.)
3. Local grids (eg. Old Town surveys, mine grids) which are
arbitrarily selected.

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 4. Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates.
5. The New Proposed Ghana National Grid based on
WGS84 ellipsoid.
• All these are assumed on Transverse Mercator
projection!!!

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Transverse Mercator Projection

• Origin of coordinates is the intersection of latitude 4 degrees 40

minutes North and longitude 1 degree west.
• Origin values Northing =0.00 m., Easting = 274319.74m.
• To avoid undue distortion at the eastern and western edges, true
distance along the central meridian is decreased by 0.99975.
• Coordinates of all other places obtained from this origin
Coordinates Systems/frames
Coordinates are a conventional method of recording position in space
• Types of Coordintes Systems
-Ellipsoidal, geographic or geodetic Coordinates
-Cartesian Coordintes,
-Projected Coordinates
-Astronomical coordinates

Projected Coordinates
-Geodetic coordinates used in Ghana,
-Coordinate Conversions,
-Datum Transformation

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Cartesian coordinates
• Cartesian coordinates are defined by three perpendicular axis X,Y,Z which
intersect at an origin point.

• The origin for Cartesian coordinate definition is fixed at the centre of the
ellipsoid.
• The z axis coincides with the polar axis of the earth with the X-Y plane
coinciding with the equatorial plane.

• The figure following illustrates the relation between Cartesian and

ellipsoidal coordinates.

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07/30/2024 54
Ellipsoids, Geographic Coordinates And Cartesian Coordinates
• The WGS's and ITRF's were basically defined as
Cartesian XYZ systems.
• The Z-axis goes out the north pole.
• The X-Y plane is the equatorial plane.
• The positive X-axis defines the origin of longitude.
• This is called an Earth Centered, Earth Fixed,
ECEF coordinate system.
• We can convert the geodetic coordinates associated with
an ellipsoid into Cartesian coordinates with respect to
that same ellipsoid directly as below:

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