I recently noticed that all vector and raster files with CRS EPSG:2163 (US National Atlas Equal Area) are being automatically reinterpreted as EPSG:9311. When I load the layers into QGIS initially they are not properly projected, so I must manually update the CRS to EPSG:2163 in QGIS and everything is fine. This is a huge pain so I would like to understand if there are any solutions that don't involve manually setting the projection in QGIS!
Running projinfo suggests that EPSG:9311 is somehow a preferred option to EPSG:2163:
>projinfo "EPSG:2163"
Warning: object is deprecated
Alternative non-deprecated CRS:
EPSG:9311
PROJ.4 string:
+proj=laea +lat_0=45 +lon_0=-100 +x_0=0 +y_0=0 +ellps=sphere +units=m +no_defs +type=crs
WKT2:2019 string:
PROJCRS["US National Atlas Equal Area",
BASEGEOGCRS["Unspecified datum based upon the Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere",
DATUM["Not specified (based on Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere)",
ELLIPSOID["Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere",6370997,0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
ID["EPSG",4052]],
CONVERSION["US National Atlas Equal Area",
METHOD["Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area (Spherical)",
ID["EPSG",1027]],
PARAMETER["Latitude of natural origin",45,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8801]],
PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",-100,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8802]],
PARAMETER["False easting",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8806]],
PARAMETER["False northing",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8807]]],
CS[Cartesian,2],
AXIS["easting (X)",east,
ORDER[1],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
AXIS["northing (Y)",north,
ORDER[2],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
USAGE[
SCOPE["unknown"],
AREA["USA"],
BBOX[15.56,167.65,74.71,-65.69]],
ID["EPSG",2163]]
I am running QGIS 3.14.16-Pi with GDAL 3.1.3 and PROJ 7.1.1 on Ubuntu 20.04
When I run gdalinfo on one of my rasters I get this output that suggests GDAL is interpreting the CRS as EPSG:9311
Coordinate System is:
PROJCRS["NAD27 / US National Atlas Equal Area",
BASEGEOGCRS["NAD27",
DATUM["North American Datum 1927",
ELLIPSOID["Clarke 1866",6378206.4,294.978698213898,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
ID["EPSG",4267]],
CONVERSION["US National Atlas Equal Area",
METHOD["Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area (Spherical)",
ID["EPSG",1027]],
PARAMETER["Latitude of natural origin",45,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8801]],
PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",-100,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8802]],
PARAMETER["False easting",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8806]],
PARAMETER["False northing",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8807]]],
CS[Cartesian,2],
AXIS["easting (X)",east,
ORDER[1],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
AXIS["northing (Y)",north,
ORDER[2],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
USAGE[
SCOPE["unknown"],
AREA["USA"],
BBOX[15.56,167.65,74.71,-65.69]],
ID["EPSG",9311]]
Is the automatic re-assignment from a deprecated EPSG code expected behavior?
When I run gdalinfo on the same file but in a different environment with older versions of GDAL (3.0.4) and PROJ (7.0.0), I get the expected result:
Coordinate System is:
PROJCRS["US National Atlas Equal Area",
BASEGEOGCRS["Unspecified datum based upon the Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere",
DATUM["Not specified (based on Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere)",
ELLIPSOID["Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere",6370997,0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
ID["EPSG",4052]],
CONVERSION["US National Atlas Equal Area",
METHOD["Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area (Spherical)",
ID["EPSG",1027]],
PARAMETER["Latitude of natural origin",45,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8801]],
PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",-100,
ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
ID["EPSG",8802]],
PARAMETER["False easting",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8806]],
PARAMETER["False northing",0,
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
ID["EPSG",8807]]],
CS[Cartesian,2],
AXIS["easting (X)",east,
ORDER[1],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
AXIS["northing (Y)",north,
ORDER[2],
LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
USAGE[
SCOPE["unknown"],
AREA["USA"],
BBOX[15.56,167.65,74.71,-65.69]],
ID["EPSG",2163]]
As far as I can tell the only difference between the two CRS' is the datum:
- EPSG:2163 : "Not specified (based on Clarke 1866 Authalic Sphere)"
- EPSG:9311 : "North American Datum 1927"
Does anyone know what GDAL and PROJ do with the deprecated CRS warning? Or why the files would be automatically re-interpreted with a different CRS?