<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geographic coordinate system</span>

Geographic coordinate system

<p>The <b>geographic coordinate system</b> (<b>GCS</b>) is a <a href="/en/Spherical_coordinate_system" title="Spherical coordinate system" class="wl">spherical</a> or <a href="/en/Ellipsoidal_coordinates_(geodesy)" title="Ellipsoidal coordinates (geodesy)" class="mw-redirect wl">ellipsoidal coordinate system</a> for measuring and communicating <a href="/en/Position_(geometry)" title="Position (geometry)" class="wl">positions</a> directly on the <a href="/en/Earth" title="Earth" class="wl">Earth</a> as <a href="/en/Latitude" title="Latitude" class="wl">latitude</a> and <a href="/en/Longitude" title="Longitude" class="wl">longitude</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-chang2016_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-chang2016-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various <a href="/en/Spatial_reference_system" title="Spatial reference system" class="wl">spatial reference systems</a> that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate <a href="/en/Tuple" title="Tuple" class="wl">tuple</a> like a <a href="/en/Cartesian_coordinate_system" title="Cartesian coordinate system" class="wl">cartesian coordinate system</a>, the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Taylor2002_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Taylor2002-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template " style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" class="wl"><span>self-published source?</span></a></i>]</sup></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">System to specify locations on Earth</div>
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.sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="padding-bottom:0.4em;"><a href="/en/Geodesy" title="Geodesy" class="wl">Geodesy</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span><a href="/en/File:Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png/120px-Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="242" data-file-height="240" data-file-type="bitmap" height="119" width="120" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png/180px-Azimutalprojektion-schief_kl-cropped.png 1.5x, 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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Fundamentals</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Geodesy" title="Geodesy" class="wl">Geodesy</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geodynamics" title="Geodynamics" class="wl">Geodynamics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geomatics" title="Geomatics" class="wl">Geomatics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/History_of_geodesy" title="History of geodesy" class="wl">History</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Concepts</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Geographical_distance" title="Geographical distance" class="wl">Geographical distance</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geoid" title="Geoid" class="wl">Geoid</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Figure_of_the_Earth" title="Figure of the Earth" class="wl">Figure of the Earth</a> <small>(<a href="/en/Earth_radius" title="Earth radius" class="wl">radius</a> and <a href="/en/Earth's_circumference" title="Earth's circumference" class="wl">circumference</a>)</small></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geodetic_coordinates" title="Geodetic coordinates" class="wl">Geodetic coordinates</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geodetic_datum" title="Geodetic datum" class="wl">Geodetic datum</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Geodesic" title="Geodesic" class="wl">Geodesic</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Horizontal_position_representation" title="Horizontal position representation" class="wl">Horizontal position representation</a></li>
<li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/en/Latitude" title="Latitude" class="wl">Latitude</a><span>&nbsp;</span>/<span> </span><a href="/en/Longitude" title="Longitude" class="wl">Longitude</a></span></li>
<li><a href="/en/Map_projection" title="Map projection" class="wl">Map projection</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Reference_ellipsoid" title="Reference ellipsoid" class="mw-redirect wl">Reference ellipsoid</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Satellite_geodesy" title="Satellite geodesy" class="wl">Satellite geodesy</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Spatial_reference_system" title="Spatial reference system" class="wl">Spatial reference system</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Spatial_relation" title="Spatial relation" class="wl">Spatial relations</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Vertical_position" title="Vertical position" class="wl">Vertical positions</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Technologies</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Satellite_navigation" title="Satellite navigation" class="wl">Global Nav. Sat. Systems (GNSSs)</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Global_Positioning_System" title="Global Positioning System" class="wl">Global Pos. System (GPS)</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/GLONASS" title="GLONASS" class="wl">GLONASS <span style="font-size:85%;">(Russia)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/en/BeiDou" title="BeiDou" class="wl">BeiDou (BDS) <span style="font-size:85%;">(China)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)" title="Galileo (satellite navigation)" class="wl">Galileo <span style="font-size:85%;">(Europe)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Indian_Regional_Navigation_Satellite_System" title="Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System" class="wl">NAVIC <span style="font-size:85%;">(India)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Quasi-Zenith_Satellite_System" title="Quasi-Zenith Satellite System" class="wl">Quasi-Zenith Sat. Sys. (QZSS) <span style="font-size:85%;">(Japan)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Discrete_Global_Grid" title="Discrete Global Grid" class="mw-redirect wl">Discrete Global Grid and Geocoding</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed plainlist"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Standards (history)</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"><table class="nowrap" style="width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0px 0px;border:none;line-height:1.2em;"><tbody><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/Sea_Level_Datum_of_1929" title="Sea Level Datum of 1929" class="mw-redirect wl">NGVD 29</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Sea Level Datum 1929</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/OSGB36" title="OSGB36" class="mw-redirect wl">OSGB36</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Ordnance Survey Great Britain 1936</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/SK-42_reference_system" title="SK-42 reference system" class="wl">SK-42</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Systema Koordinat 1942 goda</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/ED50" title="ED50" class="wl">ED50</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> European Datum 1950</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/South_American_Datum#SAD69" title="South American Datum" class="wl">SAD69</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> South American Datum 1969</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/GRS_80" title="GRS 80" class="mw-redirect wl">GRS 80</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Geodetic Reference System 1980</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/ISO_6709" title="ISO 6709" class="wl">ISO 6709</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Geographic point coord. 1983</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/North_American_Datum#North_American_Datum_of_1983" title="North American Datum" class="wl">NAD 83</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> North American Datum 1983</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/World_Geodetic_System" title="World Geodetic System" class="wl">WGS 84</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> World Geodetic System 1984</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/North_American_Vertical_Datum_of_1988" title="North American Vertical Datum of 1988" class="wl">NAVD 88</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> N. American Vertical Datum 1988</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/European_Terrestrial_Reference_System_1989" title="European Terrestrial Reference System 1989" class="wl">ETRS89</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> European Terrestrial Ref. Sys. 1989</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China" title="Restrictions on geographic data in China" class="wl">GCJ-02</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Chinese obfuscated datum 2002</td></tr><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding-left:0.5em;"> <a href="/en/Geo_URI_scheme" title="Geo URI scheme" class="wl">Geo URI</a></td><td style="text-align:right;font-size:90%;padding-right:0.55em;"> Internet link to a point  2010</td></tr></tbody></table>
<ul><li><a href="/en/International_Terrestrial_Reference_System" title="International Terrestrial Reference System" class="mw-redirect wl">International Terrestrial Reference System</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/SRID" title="SRID" class="mw-redirect wl">Spatial Reference System Identifier (SRID)</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Universal_Transverse_Mercator_coordinate_system" title="Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system" class="wl">Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
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<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:FedStats_Lat_long.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:FedStats_Lat_long.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/FedStats_Lat_long.svg/260px-FedStats_Lat_long.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="435" data-file-height="340" data-file-type="drawing" height="203" width="260" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/FedStats_Lat_long.svg/390px-FedStats_Lat_long.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/FedStats_Lat_long.svg/520px-FedStats_Lat_long.svg.png 2x" alt="FedStats_Lat_long.svg"></a><figcaption>Longitude lines are perpendicular to and latitude lines are parallel to the Equator.</figcaption></figure>

<p>A full GCS specification, such as those listed in the <a href="/en/EPSG_code" title="EPSG code" class="mw-redirect wl">EPSG</a> and ISO 19111 standards, also includes a choice of <a href="/en/Geodetic_datum" title="Geodetic datum" class="wl">geodetic datum</a> (including an <a href="/en/Earth_ellipsoid" title="Earth ellipsoid" class="wl">Earth ellipsoid</a>), as different datums will yield different latitude and longitude values for the same location.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-epsg_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-epsg-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></p>



The geographic coordinate system is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. A full GCS specification, such as those listed in the EPSG and ISO 19111 standards, also includes a choice of geodetic datum , as different datums will yield different latitude and longitude values for the same location. 