Can anyone recommend a good reference or tutorial that explains the principles of spatial references, projections, and coordinate systems? We are a small team of programmers working with GIS technology, and we often get snagged when working with data in different SRS/CS because we don't understand the concepts.
Tell me more
×
Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for
cartographers, geographers and GIS professionals. It's 100% free, no registration required.
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
Personally, for the cliff's notes I find the ESRI ArcGIS desktop software help system useful, and and also the ESRI book Understanding Map Projections, its first 30 pages are not unlike a short textbook, followed by ~70 pages of appendix on individual projections, their uses, strengths, weaknesses, etc. From these, you'll quickly understand all the pieces of a complete SR - spheroid + datum + meridian + unit of measure => GCS; and projection + parameters + unit of measure + GCS => PCS. For all the math, try the classic USGS Professional Paper 1395 by John P. Synder - Map Projections - A Working Manual. You might find a PDF somewhere if you google it. Finally, take a look at the 'documentation' links at the bottom of the page for the Proj.4 library. And as a DB of spatial references, I tend to refer to http://www.spatialreference.org/ or another ESRI list provided as part of the docs for their ArcGIS Server REST API. Hope that helps. |
|||||
|
|
Answering a question about the difference between a projection and a datum, Bill Huber links to his article in the Directions Magazine where he gives introductory explanations of georeferencing, datums, spheroids, and the like. As short and concise as it can be! |
|||
|
|
|
I think Carlos Furuti's tutorial is a really good resource. http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/CartIndex/cartIndex.html |
|||
|
|
The PostGIS in action book has a great chapter, 6 - Spatial reference system considerations, on these subjects, although it is (of course) a bit targeted at PostGIS use. Well worth checking out. |
|||||
|
|
The OGP have lots of useful information on geodesy, try: http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/373-01.pdf They also have a GIGS (Geospatial Integrity of GeoScience Software) program, more info here and also via OGP: http://www.cain-barnes.com/index.php/geospatial-integrity-of-geoscience-software Hope it helps, Rob |
|||
|
|
|
I just ran across NOAA's "What is a Datum". They seem to have more info on vertical datums than other sites I've seen. (I guess data is no longer the plural form of datum.) |
|||
|
|
|
Here's one for Arc that goes through several scenarios using vector data: http://blog.geographyforever.org/2013/03/25/working-with-spatial-reference-systems-in-arcgis/ |
|||
|
|
