Transverse Mercator projection, its parameters and the Geographic Reference System ITRF_2005

Description of the Transverse Mercator projection Source: ArcGIS 10 Help Also known as GaussKrger, and similar to the Mercator, except that the cylinder is longitudinal along a meridian instead of the equator. The result is a conformal projection that does not maintain true directions. The central meridian is placed in the center of the region of interest. This centering minimizes distortion of all properties in that region. This projection is best suited for northsouth areas. Cylindrical projection with central meridian placed in a particular region. Below the red vertical line represents the Central meridian at Greenwich.

Transverse Mercator Projection Zentral meridian: Central Meridian Meridian Streifen: Meridian Strip

Source: Olanis GmbH Germany

Lines of contact
Any single meridian can be taken for the tangent projection. For the secant projection, two parallel lines are equidistant from the central meridian.

Linear graticules
The equator and the central meridian are the linear graticules.

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Properties
Shape Conformal: Small shapes are maintained. Shapes of larger regions are increasingly distorted away from the central meridian. Area Distortion increases with distance from the central meridian. Direction Local angles are accurate everywhere. Distance Accurate scale along the central meridian if the scale factor is 1.0. If it is less than 1.0, there are two straight lines with accurate scale equidistant from and on each side of the central meridian.

Limitations
Data on a spheroid or an ellipsoid cannot be projected beyond 90 from the central meridian. In fact, the extent on a spheroid or ellipsoid should be limited to 10 to 12 on both sides of the central meridian. Beyond that range, data projected may not project back to the same position. Data on a sphere does not have these limitations.

Uses and applications

GaussKrger coordinate system: GaussKrger divides the world into zones six degrees wide. Each zone has a scale factor of 1.0 and a false easting of 500,000 meters. The central meridian of zone 1 is at 3 E. Some places also add the zone number times one million to the 500,000 false easting value. GK zone 5 could have a false easting value of 500,000 or 5,500,000 meters.

Parameters

False Easting False Northing Central Meridian Scale factor Latitude of origin

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False Easting Many projections have an origin point. For example, the origin might be located at the intersection of the central meridian and the standard parallel or at the central meridian and the latitude of the projection's origin (see below). The origin point is particular to each projection. The false easting is the x coordinate value assigned relative to this origin. For instance, if the origin of the projection (in latitude-longitude) is in the center of the map, all areas to the west of the origin would be negative if a false easting of 0 is assigned. To make the x coordinates positive for the entire map, set the false easting to a positive number. False Northing This is similar to false easting, except that it is an arbitrary y-shift. Using the example above where the projection's origin was in the center of the map, everything to the south would be negative unless a positive false northing was assigned. False easting and northing must be in meters (that is, the same units as the spheroid). Latitude of Projection's Origin For conic projections with two standard parallels, Project will not know where to put a false easting or northing because there are two lines of latitude defining the projection. The latitude of the projection's origin identifies where to put this origin. Scale Factor Is the degree of reduction or enlargement necessary to fit a curved earth onto a flat projection surface. In the following example, because the curved surface of the earth is longer than the surface onto which it is projected, features must be reduced in scale relative to the point of true scale. The default value is 1.0. At b, the point of tangency, the scale factor is 1 because scale is true. At a and c, the scale factor is greater than 1. The scale factor is most commonly used with cylindrical projections to redistribute the scale error over a wider area. A scale factor of 0.9996 is common, for example, in UTM or Great Britain National Grid.

Description of ITRF_2005 (Geographic Coordinate System) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) describes procedures for creating reference frames suitable for use with measurements on or near the Earth's surface. This is done in much the same way that a physical standard might be described as a set of procedures for creating a realization of that standard. The ITRS Esri Rwanda Ltd. May 2012, C.Schmidt Page 3 of 4

defines a geocentric system of coordinates using the SI system of measurement (SI = International System of Units). An International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) is a realization of the ITRS. New ITRF solutions are produced every few years, using the latest mathematical and surveying techniques to attempt to realize the ITRS as precisely as possible. Due to experimental error, any given ITRF will differ very slightly from any other realization of the ITRF. Also, the difference between the latest WGS84 and the latest ITRF is only a few centimetres. Practical navigation systems are in general referenced to a specific ITRF solution, or to their own coordinate systems which are then referenced to an ITRF solution. The ITRS and ITRF solutions are maintained by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS).

Parameters for Transverse Mercator Projection and GCS ITRF_2005 Projection: False_Easting: False_Northing: Central_Meridian: Scale_Factor: Latitude_Of_Origin: Linear Unit: Transverse_Mercator 500000.000000 5000000.000000 30.000000 0.999900 0.000000 Meter (1.000000)

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_ITRF_2005 Datum: D_ITRF_2005 Prime Meridian: Greenwich Angular Unit: Degree

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