Changing the projection transformation for a feature class after adding it to an mxd

Question

Is there a way to select a different projection transformation after you've added a feature class to an mxd? I have a pretty complex mxd set up to use as a map service where the original data is in CA State Plane and the mxd is set up as web mercator. When I use this service on top of another service where the data is originally in web mercator, the datasets don't line up due to the transformation selected originally. I'm trying to avoid having to re-add all of the datasets and set them all up again.

Answer 1

Yes. Double-click the dataframe name in the Table of Contents, or right-click it and choose Properties. On the Coordinate System tab, at the bottom, click the Transformations button. This will bring up the same dialog as when you add the layers.

Here you can select the CRS of the layers present in the top box, the CRS you want to specify them to (your dataframe), and select a different transformation with the bottom dropdown. After you click ok, the new transformation will be applied. Note if you have multiple layers using the same transformation, you only have to fix it once. Transformations are a property of the dataframe's on-the-fly reprojection, not the layers themselves.