Transformation from StatePlane NAD83 to WGS84

[JoeBorgione]

I maintain data at two different client sites; on is in Utah State Plane Nad 83 (feet) Central the other is Utah State Plane Nad 83 (feet) North.  What transformation should I specify for these data to correctly make the change? I've been told to simply use 'the default'.  But what is the default?

[JoeBorgione · Accepted solution]

For future reference:  http://support.esri.com/fr/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/24159

Looks like for the lower 48 the transformation to use is Nad_1983_To_WGS_1984_ 5

[ChrisDonohue__GISP]

That is the correct one for the lower 48.

When ArcGIS first started requiring Transformations, it was quite the puzzle to correctly find information for the best transformation for different systems in a given location.  Finding that specific information a few years ago was gold!

And even now it is still relevant, as the default transformation chosen by ArcMap is not always the best one for a given location...

Chris Donohue, GISP

[JonathanDandois]

Dropping a comment here for future generations.   Nad_1983_To_WGS_1984_ 5 is deprecated https://epsg.io/1515 and instead WGS_1984_(ITRF00)_To_NAD_1983 (WKID:108190, accuracy 0.100 meter) is the new standard, per this post: Some EPSG Codes in the Transformation Table Don't Exist .