What is the difference between a coordinate reference system and a projection

Some preserve area or direction. The extent, location, and property you want to preserve must inform your choice of map projection. There are more than 4, coordinate systems in the ArcGIS platform, so it is likely you'll find one to match your data. If not, you can create a custom coordinate system to display the data. ArcGIS Pro reprojects data on the fly so any data you add to a map adopts the coordinate system definition of the first layer added.

As long as the first layer added has its coordinate system correctly defined, all other data with correct coordinate system information reprojects on the fly to the coordinate system of the map. This approach facilitates exploring and mapping data, but it should not be used for analysis or editing, because it can lead to inaccuracies from misaligned data among layers.

Data is also slower to draw when it is projected on the fly. If you intend to perform analysis or edit the data, first project it into a consistent coordinate system shared by all your layers. This creates a new version of your data. Download the list of supported projected coordinate systems. See a list of all the supported map projections.

After defining the coordinate system that matches your data, you may still want to use data in a different coordinate system. This is when transformations are useful. Transformations convert data between different geographic coordinate systems or between different vertical coordinate systems.

Unless your data lines up, you'll encounter difficulties and inaccuracies in any analysis and mapping you perform on the mismatched data. Download the list of supported geographic and vertical transformations. Did you find it helpful? Yes No. We are here to help! Enter your search term here Modified on: Thu, 17 Sep, at PM. Geographic coordinate system A geographic coordinate system GCS is a coordinate system which uses a three-dimensional spherical surface ellipsoid to define locations on the earth.

An example is: WGS84 coordinate system with unique EPSG code Projected coordinate system In a projected coordinate system PCS you project the geographic coordinate that you have measured, to, for example, a cylinder which you roll out easily on two-dimensional surface the map. How does that work in Virtual Surveyor?

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