On Finding a Projected Coordinate Reference System

Cornelis Stal, Lars De Sloover, Jeffrey Verbeurgt and Alain De Wulf
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Cornelis Stal: Department of Built Environment, HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Lars De Sloover: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Jeffrey Verbeurgt: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Alain De Wulf: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Geographies, 2022, vol. 2, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: The digital age has brought about an explosion in the growth of data, of which data with a geographical component stands out. Proper use of geographical data comes with the need for correct coordinate reference systems (CRSs). They are considered the ultimate binder for interoperability between geospatial data actors and stakeholders. Moreover, CRSs are crucial for the visual and analytical integration of geospatial data from disparate data sources. However, CRSs might be—for numerous reasons—incorrectly assigned or even missing. The result is a time-consuming study of the map, literature, and available resources to ultimately find the alleged right CRS. This study provides a summary of prevailing resources from national mapping agencies of some European countries to address the above problem. Secondly, and most importantly, is the development of an open-source Python-based software package. This software package aims to accurately estimate the best candidate CRS, given a tuple of coordinates at a priori an approximately known location. It is controlled by geocoding the known location and intersecting the resulting coordinate with the bounding box of all CRSs in the EPSG-database. An in-depth review of CRS tools by mapping authorities reveals, in particular, limitations concerning the countries’ spatial areas, in combination with often required know-how of local CRSs. To address these shortcomings, our tool is developed to enable a more generic extraction of CRSs for any given location worldwide. Testing proved successful for 30 different maps, with a grid present on the map and the CRS of the map being included in the EPSG-database.

Keywords: historical maps; coordinate reference system (CRS); open-source; methodology; cartography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q15 Q5 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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