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I have a series of layers of lines (shapefiles) in My Project. The CRS of some are different and to merge them they all must have same CRS.

When I use Processing > Toolbox > Qgis_algorithims > Reproject_layer the reprojection only works if it is allowed to save to temporary file somewhere (it will not change the CRS when I reproject if I try to save and replace it in My Project directory).

I must remove the original from the layer list and reproject the temp file (without changing the CRS) to get it into my project and name it appropriately.

Is there a better way to reproject a layer in QGIS?

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  • Do you mean you want the reprojected coordinates in a DDD format instead of DMS?
    – lynxlynxlynx
    Commented Oct 13, 2012 at 16:00

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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right click on your layer in the left panel and select "save vector layer as" and choose wgs84(thats epsg:4326) under Selected crs:

enter image description here

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Just add the shapefiles to a project, check that they have the correct UTM CRS, then right-click on the layer -> Save as..., choose a destination and new filename, and WGS84 (EPSG:4326) as CRS for the output.

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  • I wanted to reproject it from UTM to decimal..
    – razi
    Commented Oct 12, 2012 at 5:31
  • @Andre Joost: sorry added this accidently add your post, should be a comment
    – Kurt
    Commented Oct 12, 2012 at 5:38
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    @razi: "I wanted to reproject it from UTM to decimal". can you please explain this. do you mean you want to stay in utms, but only the units should change to decimaldegrees?? thats not possible
    – Kurt
    Commented Oct 12, 2012 at 5:58
  • I have the same problem. I want to stay in the CRS WGS84:4326 but change the units from decimal degrees to the Bessel,Potsdam, Zone3 (Gauß-Krüger), is that possible?
    – Philipp B.
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 7:54
  • @Philipp No, WGS84 and DHDN Gauß-Krüger are two different worlds.
    – AndreJ
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 9:16
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To reproject a vector layer (or a batch of layers) (i.e. recalculate the coordinates values for a new reference system) you must go to Menu > Processing > Toolbox (this will open a side window). At processing toolbox search box, type 'reproject layer'.

Choose the "Reproject layer" algorithm from options bellow (It can be also found under Vector > Data Management Tools > Reproject Layer...). A window will open:

reproject layer window

Select the layer to be reprojected. Choose a 'Target CRS' and a file path where do you want to save the new reprojected layer. Click Run.

This procedure does not make changes in your original layer.

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  • Hi, I'm a noob at QGIS :) and I've been trying this step and others like changing the project and layer projection but it keeps my layer with this coordinates on six or seven numbers. This is a shapefile (I import the full zip under QGIS) behind this link alpage.huma-num.fr/documents/ressources/shapes/… if you want to try to convert its projection for 3857 Pseudo Mercator. Thanks !
    – Florian Boudot
    Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 15:55
  • Hi @FlorianBoudot! You need to reopen the saved layer. I just did this with your file here and it worked fine. Remember that you have two reference system here: 1) your shapefile, that stores all the geodata in some CRS; 2) your QGIS work window, where all layers are projected before painted on screen (even layers with different CRS). You can change the first one like I described in the post. The second one can be changed in a globe icon on the window's botton-right corner.
    – r01f 51m035
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 20:16
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    Thanks for your reply but I'm sorry it still doesn't work for me :( I use the toolbox to convert to 3857. The layer has a new name. I save this layer as geojson (or ESRI Shapefile) and when I open geojson, all coordinates are like [ 261739.24826980373, 6249991.3352297293 ] It's QGIS 2.18.0
    – Florian Boudot
    Commented Feb 15, 2017 at 16:00
  • 3857 is not a geographic coordinate system, you will not get longitude and latitude values from it. For that the easiest CRS is WGS84 -> EPSG:4326.
    – bugmenot123
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 11:11

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