Using a coordinate reference system

A coordinate reference system (CRS) is defined by the European Directive 2007/2/EC as "a system for uniquely referencing spatial information in space as a set of coordinates (X, Y, Z) and/or latitude, longitude, and height, based on a geodetic horizontal and vertical datum".

Note

For a short introduction of coordinate reference systems (CRS definition, conversion and transformation), please refer to the following URL:

http://www.crs-geo.eu/nn_124210/crseu/EN/CRS__Overview/crs-overview__node.html?__nnn=true

In this section, we will explore five coordinate reference systems (CRS) that are based on different horizontal datum. The terms coordinate reference systems and geographic coordinate systems are used interchangeably by the Esri's software.

Follow these steps to start exploring the datum and coordinates reference system with the ArcMap application:

1. Start the ArcMap application to open an existing map document. In the ArcMap -Getting Started...