When I import an excel table of lat/lon values, the projection is way off

[JohnKnouse]

I have a table of simple lat/lon values in decimal degrees in an excel spreadsheet. I have no problem importing and converting it, and it claims to be in the right projection. But when I open it, the projection is WAY off to the southwest. I cannot figure out any way to fix it.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

It is a geographic coordinate system, perhaps GCS WGS84 or GCS NAD83 perhaps.

Was Longitude chosen for the X axis and Latitude for the Y?

I would check that you used the Define Projection tool, to define the actual coordinate system.  Excel know nothing of this at all.  

If you need it in another coordinate system, then you have to use the Project tool, which will produce a new file in that coordinate system.

[JohnKnouse]

I have no idea what "projection" excel might be in. But it should be

utterly irrelevant, seeing as how very specific lat/lon values are

specified, and the new file is created using my standard projection

(NAD83-OhioSouth-foot). I've tried flipping lat/long and it makes no

difference either way as to getting the values in the proper place.

[JosephCarter]

Hey, John. Any time your data is in decimal degrees, change the coordinate system to WGS 1984.

 When exporting choose Edit and Navigate to Geographic Coordinate Systems, World, WGS 1984.

You might try creating the shapefile/feature class from your table in ArcCatalog and then adding that shapefile to your map. Open Catalog, navigate to your table, identify the correct excel tab to map,  right-click, Create Feature Class from XY Table (again set WGS 1984).

Good luck!,

Joe

[JohnKnouse]

This didn't work. Got exactly the same result.

[curtvprice]

I am assuming you are using ArcMap. This is a common issue folks run into.

The coordinate system you specify in the add xy to map dialog must be the one of the xy coordinates in the table -- NOT the data frame coordinate system (Ohio State Plane) - which unfortunately is the default that comes up. So you should change the coordinate system to one that matches your data table location values (a geographic -- lat/long -- not projected -- coordinate system, for example WGS84 or NAD83).

If you do that your points should plot in your data frame in the correct place, regardless of the data frame coordinate system setting (state plane, utm, etc).

Hope this helps!

[JohnKnouse]

I tried specifying the coordinate system. It didn't work. The only way I

FINALLY got it to work was by setting the data frame coordinate system to

the WGS. Now I'm stuck with a weird projection. I tried converting the

coordinate system of the newly-created shapefile, but ArcView won't allow

me to.

[curtvprice]

Sorry to hear that. Honest, this does work.

Here's a useful step by step:

• Problem: XY points from a CSV file display incorrectly in ArcMap
  https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000012576

It is very important not to try to convert any coordinate systems until you have the points plotting in map projection, projecting on the fly (for example, to state plane) on the data frame. If you have that working, then you can save the events to a point feature class either using Data > Export (set output CS same as data frame) or using the Project tool.