Layer's don't match / Wrong Projection?

AnjaWietholter · ‎05-19-2010

I have a table with geocoded Lat/Long Values that I want to add as point features to my map. However when I add the table and add X/Y data (Tools-Add X/Y data) the data is added to the map but the projection doesn't match up. I did compare the coordinate systems and they appear to be the same whoever the extent doesn't match up.

My Shapefile with the Lat/Long Points has similar values in projected coordinates compared to the decimal degrees which leads me to believe it doesn't project?

Here is an example. My Zip Code layer in decimal degrees:
West: -117.597982
East: -116.080157
North: 33.511553
South: 32.530161

In projected or local coordinates:
Left: 6150765.000000
Right: 6613436.500000
Top: 2129760.000000
Bottom: 1775304.125000
NAD_1983_StatePlane_California_VI_FIPS_0406_Feet

And my XY layer that doesn't match:

Decimal:
West: -136.179977
East: -136.179964
North: 25.945595
South: 25.945576

In projected or local coordinates:
Left: -117.388904
Right: -116.371055
Top: 34.517990
Bottom: 32.543795

NAD_1983_StatePlane_California_VI_FIPS_0406 also

I tried about everything. If somebody could help me with this it would be GREATLY appreciated.

DianeMcConnaughey · ‎05-11-2011

I have a similar problem. Four datasets created the same way, but two of them are slightly different from the other two. They cannot all be loaded into the same Feature dataset. ArcGIS 9.3.1. The difference is in the Abscissa resolution and Ordinate resolution. In one pair the values are 0.000000, 0.000000; and in the other pair they are 0.000100, and 0.000100.
1) data brought in as XY event from excel table, UTM 11 NAD27, then exported as a FC into a FGDB, using the Data Frame properties: NAD_1983_Albers, Projection Albers, False Easting 0.000000, false northing 0.000000, Central Meridian -96.000000, Standard_Parallel_1 29.500000, Standard_Parallel_2 42.500000, Latitude_of_Origin 23.000000, Linear Unit Meter, GSC_North_American_1983, Datum - D_North_American_1983.
2. I tried importing the Coordinate system of one to the other, but it did not fix the problem. I also tried projecting one data set and importing the projection information of one of the others. This did not work either. Both times the Abscissa resolution and Ordinate resolution remained 0.000000, 0.000000.

JamesFetzner · ‎05-11-2011

I have a problem similar to the original poster. The points from my georeferenced file are not plotting on the map properly. The coordinate systems seem to be the same (see below) but the extents are different. It looks to me like the point file has set the extent to meters, when it should be decimal degrees (DD), or the DD need to be converted to meters to get the layers to overlap properly . I think the problem lies here, but I can't figure out how to edit/modify the extents on individual layers? Is this even possible? Or am I barking up the worng tree here? Using ArcGIS v10 by the way.

Point Layer:

Extent:
   Top: 31.177874 m
   Bottom: 31.087096 m
   Left: -89.028088 m
   Right: -88.981114 m

Projected Coordinate System:
Name: NAD_1983_Transverse_Mercator
Projection: Transverse_Mercator
False_Easting: 500000.000000
False_Northing: 1300000.000000
Central_Meridian: -89.750000
Scale_Factor: 0.999830
Latitude_Of_Origin: 32.500000
Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)
Prime Meridian: Greenwich (0.000000000000000000)
Datum: D_North_American_1983
    Spheroid: GRS_1980
      Semimajor Axis: 6378137.000000000000000000
      Semiminor Axis: 6356752.314140356100000000
      Inverse Flattening: 298.257222101000020000

Map Layer:

Extent:
    Top: 1574817.604125 m
    Bottom: 1078727.964133 m
    Left: 355913.259109 m
    Right: 609060.498911 m

Projected Coordinate System: NAD_1983_Transverse_Mercator
Projection: Transverse_Mercator
False_Easting: 500000.00000000
False_Northing: 1300000.00000000
Central_Meridian: -89.75000000
Scale_Factor: 0.99983000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 32.50000000
Linear Unit: Meter

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: Greenwich
Angular Unit: Degree

Thanks for any help you might offer.

Cheers,
FetznerJ

MelitaKennedy · ‎05-12-2011

Hello FetznerJ,

It looks like the first layer should be using a geographic coordinate system, rather than a projected coordinate system. The extent values look like decimal degrees, particularly if the data is in southern Mississippi.

Redefine it as NAD 1983 (don't reproject it) using the Define Projection tool or the data's property page in ArcCatalog.

Melita

JamesFetzner · ‎05-16-2011

mkennedy,

Many thanks! I found the option in ArcMap to set the coordinate system to NAD-83, rather than projecting it. The points are now plotting where they should. Appreciate the help!!

Cheers,
FetznerJ

PearlDaniel · ‎08-09-2011

I am having a problem similar to the previous posts here. I created a shapefile from an Excel file of latitude/longitude values, but they are not appearing in the place they should be in ArcMap with the other shapefiles I have.

Here is the information on the point shapefile I created:
Extent
Top: 35.984250 m
Bottom: 34.367333 m
Left: 90.817589 m
Right: 93.998444 m

Projected Coordinate System: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_15N
Projection: Transverse_Mercator
False_Easting: 500000.00000000
False_Northing: 0.00000000
Central_Meridian: -93.00000000
Scale_Factor: 0.99960000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 0.00000000
Linear Unit: Meter

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: Greenwich
Angular Unit: Degree

The previously downloaded map shapefile:
Extent
Top: 3925437.166877 m
Bottom: 3891226.247671 m
Left: 677974.783259 m
Right: 727471.671950 m

Projected Coordinate System: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_15N
Projection: Transverse_Mercator
False_Easting: 500000.00000000
False_Northing: 0.00000000
Central_Meridian: -93.00000000
Scale_Factor: 0.99960000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 0.00000000
Linear Unit: Meter

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: Greenwich
Angular Unit: Degree

I am using ArcGIS v. 10. I have tried to use the Define Projection tool to define the Geographic Coordinate System to NAD 1983.prj and many others. I have tried to define the Projected Coordinate System to NAD 1983 Zone 15N. I have also tried using the Properties in ArcCatalog instead of the Define Projection tool. Sometimes with a different projection the point shapefile changes location but it is always far away from where it should be. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

MelitaKennedy · ‎08-09-2011

Hi,

The point shapefile has two problems with it that I can see. Given this extent:

Top: 35.984250 m
Bottom: 34.367333 m
Left: 90.817589 m
Right: 93.998444 m

The coordinate system should be NAD 1983 (geographic coordinate system), not a UTM zone. Once the data is defined correctly, you can use the Project Tool to convert to NAD 1983 UTM 15N. But before you can do any of this, the longitude values need to be made negative. ArcGIS expects that longitude values in the western hemisphere will be negative.

Melita

nathanruckinger · ‎09-01-2011

I am having much of a similar problem here. I created a point file using XY coordinates but I can't get the created file to line up with a County Shapefile for PA. I'm unsure what I am doing wrong. Can you maybe point me in the direction of my mistake.

This is the original County Shapefile information:

Extent:

Top: 772527.246046 ft
Bottom: -162711.412584 ft
Left: 1189338.551241 ft
Right: 2815149.596144 ft

Data Type: Shapefile Feature Class
Shapefile: F:\Marcellus Shale\New folder\PACountyRepro.shp
Geometry Type: Polygon

Projected Coordinate System: NAD_1983_StatePlane_Pennsylvania_North_FIPS_3701_Feet
Projection: Lambert_Conformal_Conic
False_Easting: 1968500.00000000
False_Northing: 0.00000000
Central_Meridian: -77.75000000
Standard_Parallel_1: 40.88333333
Standard_Parallel_2: 41.95000000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 40.16666667
Linear Unit: Foot_US

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: Greenwich
Angular Unit: Degree

This is my created point file:

Extent:

Top: 4672116.459650 ft
Bottom: 4569259.197331 ft
Left: 50933.504070 ft
Right: 459885.954358 ft

Data Type: Shapefile Feature Class
Shapefile: F:\Marcellus Shale\HomeLocations.shp
Geometry Type: Point

Projected Coordinate System: NAD_1983_StatePlane_Pennsylvania_North_FIPS_3701_Feet
Projection: Lambert_Conformal_Conic
False_Easting: 1968500.00000000
False_Northing: 0.00000000
Central_Meridian: -77.75000000
Standard_Parallel_1: 40.88333333
Standard_Parallel_2: 41.95000000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 40.16666667
Linear Unit: Foot_US

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: Greenwich
Angular Unit: Degree

This is the Data Frame Properties:

NAD_1983_StatePlane_Pennsylvania_North_FIPS_3701_Feet
Projection: Lambert_Conformal_Conic
False_Easting: 1968500.000000
False_Northing: 0.000000
Central_Meridian: -77.750000
Standard_Parallel_1: 40.883333
Standard_Parallel_2: 41.950000
Latitude_Of_Origin: 40.166667
Linear Unit: Foot_US

GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983

They match so I don't understand what it is that I am missing here.

Nate

MelitaKennedy · ‎09-01-2011

Hi Nate,

Just going by the coordinates, I would guess a UTM zone, either 17North or 18North. Because the easting values get pretty small, I think it's 18N.

Melita

nathanruckinger · ‎09-01-2011

Does this infer I should change it from 18N to something else? or vice versa?

Nate

MelitaKennedy · ‎09-01-2011

Hi Nate,

I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer in the earlier message. Use the Define Projection tool or the data's property page in ArcCatalog to change the coordinate system NAD83 UTM Zone 18N. Or you could just clear the coordinate system--make it unknown first. Add it and the other layer to ArcMap. Set the data frame to use NAD83 UTM 18N. If the State Plane data lines up with the point layer (with an unknown coordinate system), you've confirmed that the point layer is using UTM 18N.

If a layer has no coordinate system, ArcMap can't do anything to it except display it. ArcMap can't project it to a new coordinate system. It can project layers with a known coordinate system. So you try setting the data frame's coordinate system to what you think the unknown data is in.

Melita