Maher - Lining up data in ArcGIS: a guide to map projections

a guide to map projections

Second Edition

MARGARET M. MAHER

Esri Press

REDLANDS|CALIFORNIA

Esri Press, 380 New York Street, Redlands, California 92373-8100

Copyright 2010, 2013 Esri

All rights reserved. First edition 2010

Second edition 2013

Printed in the United States of America

17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Maher, Margaret M.

Lining up data in ArcGIS : a guide to map projections / Margaret M. Maher.Second edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58948-342-2 (pbk.)ISBN 978-1-58948-343-9 (electronic) (print)

1. ArcGIS. 2. Geographic information systems. 3. Graphical user interfaces (Computer systems) I. Title.

G70.212.M275 2013

910.285dc23 2012038275

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This practical guide will help you line up your data in a map projection as easily as possible. It is a working manual intended to lead you quickly to the solution when data misalignment problems arise. Many scholarly publications delve deeply into the mathematics of map projections, detailing the calculations used behind the scenes to project data from the curved surface of the earth onto a flat piece of paper. Because we reside on a lumpy ball of minerals suspended in space, even a simple concept as the center of the earth is the subject of much debate and reams of complex calculations. A search on the Internet will turn up hundreds of thousands of web pages devoted to such scholarly work.

This book is not intended for the geodesist, highly trained in mathematics, who has a profound understanding of map projections. It is for those working in the field of geographic information systems (GIS) and others in the process of making a map who, like so many who have called me over the years for technical support, sometimes run into a problem lining up their data in ArcMap.

ArcMap is the application for making maps and analyzing data within ArcGIS for Desktop, which is written by Esri and is the leading GIS software. While this guide is written with the users of ArcGIS for Desktop specifically in mind, the basic principles of map projection apply and will be useful to others. I have worked in Support Services at Esri for twelve years and have had the pleasure of talking with thousands of you while resolving more than 12,000 support incidents. The majority of these discussions have been questions about lining up data in ArcMap.

Many of you have requested a book that would provide comprehensive information about working with coordinate systems and aligning data. So here it is, the book that will answer most of your day-to-day questions and demystify some of the complex issues surrounding map projections. It is organized in an especially practical way, on the assumption that you may be in the midst of a dilemma right now and very much in need of a way to resolve it quickly.

My thanks go especially to Melita Kennedy, David Burrows, and Rob Juergens, whose endless patience and understanding have enabled me to distill the contents from the information they have so generously shared. I am also very grateful to Philip Sanchez, Jeffrey Reinhart, and Alex Lereaux who have taught me about computer-aided design (CAD) software and how to work with data created in some of these applications.