Adding lat/long (dd) data points from Excel to a basemap inserts incorrectly as "m"

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01-11-2014 06:49 AM
ARDISKUEHNE
New Contributor II
Adding a lat/long data layer from Excel to a basemap oriented to  a desired lat/long position. The points do not appear. Zooming to the full extent of the layer, the points show in a location far removed from the basemap. Display properties of  the layer appear as "m" rather than "dd" as in the Excel worksheet.
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RichardFairhurst
MVP Honored Contributor
Although the data frame and he spreadsheet table coordinate units are both in decimal degrees, the added XY data Property (Source tab) still shows as meters which displays the points in meter units near the prime meridian/equator. I didn't find the Make XY Event layer tool. If its in the layer properties, then I'm not sure which projection to use. They all seem to project in meters rather than the desired decimal degrees.


Add the table to ArcMap as a table, right click it and select Display XY Data... or else Open the Toolbox in the ArcCatalog window and find it in the Data Management Toolbox in the Layers and Table Views Toolset group as a tool named Make XY Event Layer.

In the Spatial Reference parameter of the tool choose a Geographic Coordinate System like WGS 1984 (the cooordinate system used by Google Earth), not a Projected Coordinate System.  Use the Edit or Browse button to find the Spatial References built into ArcMap.  When you are browsing for the Spatial Reference, expand the Geographic Coordinate System folder group and expand the World folder group and choose the WGS 1984 coordinate system if you think your coordinates are from Google Earth.  Those coordiantes will use decimal degree values.

Projected Coordinate Systems all use linear units like meters and Geographic Coordinate Systems all use degree based coordinates like decimal degrees or radians.  Projected Systems are typically more localized and Geographic Systems are generally global.  They distort the earth in different ways to make it 2D and to emphasize different accuracy levels for things like area, distances, etc.

To modify an existing layer based on XY table coordinates (not based on a point feature class) go to the Source tab of the layer and press the Set Data Source button to access the Make XY Event Layer settings for the layer to modify them.

This should be all the help that you need, so if you still have trouble be prepared to make a lot of screenshots of what you are doing.  You also should use the Online help for terms like Projected, Make XY Event Layer, etc. to learn GIS more quickly.

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8 Replies
RamB
by
Occasional Contributor III
hi,

do not mix the both layers already. First import your excel and save the resulting events file to a shapefile with a appropriate dd or dms  coordinate system (GCS)

then go to arctoolbox and change this coordinate system «define projection» to the desired projected UTM system (PCS)

your problem will be solved.

regards,
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RobertBorchert
Frequent Contributor III
Can you post an example of your spreadsheet.  more importantly an example of the X,Y being used.

What projection do you think the spreadsheet is using and what projection is your MXD using

Adding a lat/long data layer from Excel to a basemap oriented to  a desired lat/long position. The points do not appear. Zooming to the full extent of the layer, the points show in a location far removed from the basemap. Display properties of  the layer appear as "m" rather than "dd" as in the Excel worksheet.
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ARDISKUEHNE
New Contributor II
Thanks for the response. I am new to ArcMap so am not sure about the meaning of your second line, "projections." The basemap units are in meters (hundreds of thousands at the location). The XY (longitude/latitude) on the attached spreadsheet is in decimal degrees but the properties of the add data Events layer for Sheet1 (Display tab) shows as meters. The point layer appears at a location far removed from the basemap, i.e., meters related to the prime meridian and equator (off the West coast of Africa) whereas the basemap is a location in Camden County, New Jersey, USA. The Excel spreadsheet (xls) is attached as you requested.
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ARDISKUEHNE
New Contributor II
hi,

do not mix the both layers already. First import your excel and save the resulting events file to a shapefile with a appropriate dd or dms  coordinate system (GCS)

then go to arctoolbox and change this coordinate system «define projection» to the desired projected UTM system (PCS)

your problem will be solved.

regards,


Thanks for your response. I tried several times to implement your guidance but unsuccessfully. The Events file saved and I exported to a layer Export-Output 3 file in Table of Contents. This file's Source property (tab) still show units in meters not in decimal degrees as in the Excel table.  I was not able to save it or convert it to the appropriate decimal degree units.
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RichardFairhurst
MVP Honored Contributor
Use the Make XY Event Layer tool to create the points.  You have to choose the projection of the data in one of the parameters of that tool which also lets you specify the units.  You have to know what Coordinate system your XY data is using.  The choice is all yours with that tool.  Don't let ArcMap create the layer automatically, since it will always apply the coordinate system and units of the data frame to the XY table, which is obviously wrong for your data.

Projections is a mapping term for the different ways to project a spherical 3-dimensional surface onto a flat 2-dimensional page or display.  There are many different methods for doing that transformation to unwrap the earth to make it flat.
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ARDISKUEHNE
New Contributor II
Use the Make XY Event Layer tool to create the points.  You have to choose the projection of the data in one of the parameters of that tool which also lets you specify the units.  You have to know what Coordinate system your XY data is using.  The choice is all yours with that tool.  Don't let ArcMap create the layer automatically, since it will always apply the coordinate system and units of the data frame to the XY table, which is obviously wrong for your data.

Projections is a mapping term for the different ways to project a spherical 3-dimensional surface onto a flat 2-dimensional page or display.  There are many different methods for doing that transformation to unwrap the earth to make it flat.


Although the data frame and he spreadsheet table coordinate units are both in decimal degrees, the added XY data Property (Source tab) still shows as meters which displays the points in meter units near the prime meridian/equator. I didn't find the Make XY Event layer tool. If its in the layer properties, then I'm not sure which projection to use. They all seem to project in meters rather than the desired decimal degrees.
0 Kudos
RichardFairhurst
MVP Honored Contributor
Although the data frame and he spreadsheet table coordinate units are both in decimal degrees, the added XY data Property (Source tab) still shows as meters which displays the points in meter units near the prime meridian/equator. I didn't find the Make XY Event layer tool. If its in the layer properties, then I'm not sure which projection to use. They all seem to project in meters rather than the desired decimal degrees.


Add the table to ArcMap as a table, right click it and select Display XY Data... or else Open the Toolbox in the ArcCatalog window and find it in the Data Management Toolbox in the Layers and Table Views Toolset group as a tool named Make XY Event Layer.

In the Spatial Reference parameter of the tool choose a Geographic Coordinate System like WGS 1984 (the cooordinate system used by Google Earth), not a Projected Coordinate System.  Use the Edit or Browse button to find the Spatial References built into ArcMap.  When you are browsing for the Spatial Reference, expand the Geographic Coordinate System folder group and expand the World folder group and choose the WGS 1984 coordinate system if you think your coordinates are from Google Earth.  Those coordiantes will use decimal degree values.

Projected Coordinate Systems all use linear units like meters and Geographic Coordinate Systems all use degree based coordinates like decimal degrees or radians.  Projected Systems are typically more localized and Geographic Systems are generally global.  They distort the earth in different ways to make it 2D and to emphasize different accuracy levels for things like area, distances, etc.

To modify an existing layer based on XY table coordinates (not based on a point feature class) go to the Source tab of the layer and press the Set Data Source button to access the Make XY Event Layer settings for the layer to modify them.

This should be all the help that you need, so if you still have trouble be prepared to make a lot of screenshots of what you are doing.  You also should use the Online help for terms like Projected, Make XY Event Layer, etc. to learn GIS more quickly.
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ARDISKUEHNE
New Contributor II
Add the table to ArcMap as a table, right click it and select Display XY Data... or else Open the Toolbox in the ArcCatalog window and find it in the Data Management Toolbox in the Layers and Table Views Toolset group as a tool named Make XY Event Layer.

In the Spatial Reference parameter of the tool choose a Geographic Coordinate System like WGS 1984 (the cooordinate system used by Google Earth), not a Projected Coordinate System.  Use the Edit or Browse button to find the Spatial References built into ArcMap.  When you are browsing for the Spatial Reference, expand the Geographic Coordinate System folder group and expand the World folder group and choose the WGS 1984 coordinate system if you think your coordinates are from Google Earth.  Those coordiantes will use decimal degree values.

Projected Coordinate Systems all use linear units like meters and Geographic Coordinate Systems all use degree based coordinates like decimal degrees or radians.  Projected Systems are typically more localized and Geographic Systems are generally global.  They distort the earth in different ways to make it 2D and to emphasize different accuracy levels for things like area, distances, etc.

To modify an existing layer based on XY table coordinates (not based on a point feature class) go to the Source tab of the layer and press the Set Data Source button to access the Make XY Event Layer settings for the layer to modify them.

This should be all the help that you need, so if you still have trouble be prepared to make a lot of screenshots of what you are doing.  You also should use the Online help for terms like Projected, Make XY Event Layer, etc. to learn GIS more quickly.


Yes, it worked. Make XY Event Layer in the Data Management Toolbox. Not sure of all the steps and I will need to reconstruct but it worked. Thank you very much.
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