Are Esri's lattitude and longitude values the opposite of Google map's lattitude and longitude?

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01-10-2018 08:17 PM
NisarAhmed
New Contributor

Let's say I search for an address on Google and I get its latitude and longitude values as

// Google Maps

57.44352239876 // lat
-133.8994923441 // long‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

  
If I search for the same address on ESRI maps, I get the values as 

// ESRI

-133.8994923441 // lat
57.44352239876  // long‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

If that is indeed the case, why is it so? Or is my assumption of those two being opposite is wrong?

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

X and Y  like on graph paper.  X is longitude, Y is latitude

There is a history why people say latitude/longitude, sadly... you just have to remember which is which.

Esri has them in the correct order for mapping, Google switches them to conform to the way people 'say' and do things.  To complicate things, sometimes the negative signs are dropped in favor of a N, S, E, W naming convention. S and W are negative for both

Just make sure you are aware of what you get and how you query

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5 Replies
RobertScheitlin__GISP
MVP Emeritus

Nisar,

   No that is not the case. Google return the coordinate order as lat lon (y,x) and esri return the order as Lon Lat (x, y) but esri specifies that the order the coordinates are returned are XY. When working with geographic coordinates you would normally say "Give me the Lat and Long" (which is Y and X), but GIS technology always states it as XY.

DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

X and Y  like on graph paper.  X is longitude, Y is latitude

There is a history why people say latitude/longitude, sadly... you just have to remember which is which.

Esri has them in the correct order for mapping, Google switches them to conform to the way people 'say' and do things.  To complicate things, sometimes the negative signs are dropped in favor of a N, S, E, W naming convention. S and W are negative for both

Just make sure you are aware of what you get and how you query

JoeBorgione
MVP Emeritus

The G of GIS isn't Google....

See:  Updating well locations and suddenly lat/longs not displaying correctly? 

That should just about do it....
RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

... I like that quote!

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NisarAhmed
New Contributor

Thanks Dan, Robert, and Joe for clearing that out. It makes sense now.

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