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I have a project where I have a few layers (State of Texas, cities, roads, etc.). They are all resaved and projected to NAD83 / UTM zone 14N EPSG: 26914. The project CRS is also NAD83 / UTM zone 14N EPSG: 26914 and on the fly projection is enabled. I added a text delimited file and cannot get them to line up. I checked the attribute table of the delimited file and the coordinates are correct. I cross-checked this with a point close to where a few of the points from the delimited file are and they are very close so in theory they should be lining up. I tried to save the delimited file and save it with the same projection and add the shp file back in and that did not work. Anyone have any ideas? I can't think of anything else to try.

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Based on the offset shown in your uploaded image (from comment to Andre Joost's answer), the text delimited file's coordinates are probably in latitude, longitude. Is QGIS's display showing lat/lon values which may be confusing the issue? – mkennedy Mar 20 at 16:45
I have made that mistake before! That isn't the problem here though, that is the first thing I checked. – Chris Mar 20 at 16:48
Figured out the problem. Can't officially answer the question until 8 hours have passed. Under properties, I had "Use project CRS" checked rather than "Prompt for CRS" when creating a new layer (i.imgur.com/wT0cGlR.png). So whenever I would upload the delimited file, it would automatically project to EPSG: 26914 rather than WGS84 / EPSG: 4326 that it should have been uploading in. So whenever I would change the Project CRS to WGS84 it would upload correctly because then it was giving the incoming layer the correct projection. Thanks for everyone's help! – Chris Mar 20 at 17:13
@Chris if you have resolved this then please mark this as answer. – Sunil Mar 28 at 4:55
I did below. I couldn't mark this one as enough time had not passed. – Chris Apr 1 at 19:37

2 Answers

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To know which layers are "right", or "wrong", change the project CRS to EPSG:3857, and add a Satellite or Openstreetmap layer.

There is a difference between reproject a layer and set a CRS to a layer. Maybe you got stuck with that.

How large is the offset? It could be that your data is initially NAD27 UTM 14N, which gives a ceratin datum shift.

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Looks like if I change the project CRS to EPSG: 3857 and then add the delimited file it loads correctly. Then when I change the project CRS back to EPSG: 26914 it will reproject the points correctly. Like I said in the first post, it won't line up if they are loaded in when the project CRS is EPSG: 26914. But if I was to save the points off as a shp file (tried twice with EPSG: 26914 and EPSG: 3857) and try to load that it still will not work. – Chris Mar 20 at 16:10
(I hit enter before I was finished with the earlier comment) The aerial using the open layers plugin lines up with my layers, not the delimited file. The delimited file is just 12 rows and 2 columns (lat, long). Saving it as a shp file should reproject correct? What's the proper way to do it if you load a delimited file of just coordinates? The offset is huge (i.imgur.com/IiMZ8et.png). – Chris Mar 20 at 16:17
up vote 1 down vote

Figured out the problem.

Under properties, I had "Use project CRS" checked rather than "Prompt for CRS" when creating a new layer (http://i.imgur.com/wT0cGlR.png). So whenever I would upload the delimited file, it would automatically project to EPSG: 26914 rather than WGS84 / EPSG: 4326 that it should have been uploading in. So whenever I would change the Project CRS to WGS84 it would upload correctly because then it was giving the incoming layer the correct projection.

Thanks for everyone's help!

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You can always change the CRS of a text delimited layer even after loading it with Right-click on the layer, and 'set CRS for layer' to the correct one (in your case lat/lon). – Andre Joost Mar 21 at 16:12

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