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IntegratingGPSDatawithGISData

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InDepthTutorialsandInformation

IntegratingGPSDatawithGISData

INWHICHyoulearnapproachestoconvertingGPSsoftware1datafilestoGISsoftwaredatafiles,^practice
withsampleGPSanddigitizedshapefilesandcoverages,andthenundertaketheprocessonyourown.

OVERVIEW
AnotherDatumLesson:IteachattheUniversityofKentuckysDepartmentofGeography,inLexington.
SeveralyearsagoIborrowedaGPSreceiverfromTrimbleNavigationtouseinaclass.Ithadoccurredtome
thatourdepartmentalfacultydirectorylistednames,officeandhomeaddresses,phonenumbers,andsoon,but
not,asseemedappropriateforgeographers,theirgeographiccoordinates.SoIsentmystudentsouttoparkin
mycolleaguesdrivewaysandcollectGPSdata,whichweconvenedtoanArcInfocoveragebasedonWorld
GeodeticSystemof1984(WGS84)UniversalTransverseMercator(UTM)coordinates.
WethendigitizedthemajorroadsfromLexingtonareaU.S.GeologicalSurvey(USGS)7.5minute
topographicquadmapsbasedontheNorthAmericanDatumof1927(NAD27).Themapsindicatedthatto
convertNAD27toNAD83(whichiswithincentimetersofWGS84),oneshouldmovethegridlines4meters
southand6meterswesthardlyanissueforus,becauseouraccuracywaslimitedbyselectiveavailabilityto
perhaps50meterswhencalculatedoveranumberofmeasurements.Itwas,therefore,distressingwhena
graphicoverlayofthesetwocoveragesputthecurrentdepartmentalchairshousesmackinthemedianof
Lexingtonslimitedaccessbeltway.(He,infact,livesacoupleoffootballfieldsnorthofthere.)

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WhatIlearned,theembarrassingway,wasthatwhiletheareaslatitudeandlongitudecoordinateswere
adjustedbyafewmetersinthe1927to1983datumchange,theUTMcoordinateswereadjustedbymore
than200metersinanorthsouthdirection!Sothestatementonthemapthatthegridlinescanbemovedonlya
fewmeterswasmisleadingitreferredonlytothelatitudeandlongitudegridlines.TheUTMgridandthe
StatePlanegridhadmuchgreaterchanges.

ReviewingWhatYouKnow
Youhavebeengiven,oryouhavecollected,fileswiththeextensionsSSF(StandardStorageFormat)orCOR
(fordifferentiallyCORrected)files.ThesefileshavebeenprocessedanddisplayedusingtheTrimblePathfinder
Officesoftware.YourgoalnowistousethesedatafilesinaGeographicInformationSystem(GIS)wherethey
canbeconsideredwithmanyotherdatasourcesthatyoumayhaveavailable.Thisisnotadifficultprocessbut
youreallymustbecareful:itisquiteeasytogetwhatlookslikeareasonableGISfile,butonethathasthe
locationswrong,thusmakingtheactivityworsethanuseless.
ThekeytoconvertingfromTrimblefilestoESRIfilesistoknowthatyouneedonlyconvertfromSSF(or
COR)filestowhatiscalledanArcInfocoverageortoanArcViewshapefile.Onceacoverageorshapefilehas
beenobtained,theentirerangeofESRIproductsisavailableforyouruse.Itisalsotruethat,nomatterwhich
Trimbleproductsyouuse,ultimatelyyouwillhavefilesintheirstandardfileformat.Soitisasthoughyouhave
a"datatunnel,"withwiderangesofproductsoneachsidebutwiththerestrictionthatthedatamustflow
throughanarrowpassage(pleaseseeFigure61).
TheprocessofmakinganESRIcoveragebeginswiththePathfinderOfficesoftware.ThisGPSsoftwarewill
generateasetoffiles.ThesefilesarenotESRIcoveragefiles,butratherarefilesthatArcInfocommandswill
usetocreatethepropercoverage.Soyouwillbeexecutingamultistepprocess.Theresultultimatelywillbean
ArcInfocoverage,whichisaDOS,Windows,orUNIXdirectory(akaafolder)containinganumberoffiles.
TheprocessofmakinganArcViewshapefileismoredirect.PathfinderOfficegeneratesashapefilefile
(actually,threeormoreyouwillbeexecutingamultistepprocess.TheresultultimatelywillbeanArcInfo
coverage,whichisaDOS,Windows,orUNIXdirectory(akaafolder)containinganumberoffiles.

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Figure61.DataTunnel:TrimbleGPSdatatoESRIproducts.
TheprocessofmakinganArcViewshapefileismoredirect.PathfinderOfficegeneratesashapefilefile
(actually,threeormorefilesinthesamedirectoryareneededtomakeanArcView"shapefile")thatareread
directlybyArcView.
ThereasontouseaGISwithGPSdataistocombinelocationaldatafromavarietyofsources.So,firstand
foremost,youmustascertaintheparametersoftheexistingESRIcoveragesorshapefilesintowhichyouwish
tointegratetheGPSdata.Ifyougetthiswrong,everythingwillbewrongthenceforth.Amongthethingsyou
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mustconsiderare:
geodeticdatum(andworkinNorthAmericachoicesareusuallyNAD27,NAD83,WGS84)
projection,ifany,usedtoconvertthedatafromlatitudelongituderepresentationtoaCartesiancoordinate
system,
unitsoflinearmeasure,(e.g.,meters,miles,surveyfeet,andmanymore),and
unitsofangularmeasure(almostalwaysdegrees,buttheissueofhowfractionalpartsofadegreeare
representedcancomplicatethings).

PrescriptionforFailure:IncorrectParameters
IntheUnitedStates,thevaluesaredifferentinthenorthsouthdirectionabout200meters,dueprimarilyto
humanslearningmoreabouttheshapeoftheirEarth.IntheWesternUnitedStatestheeastwestdifferencecan
bearound100meters(e.g.,Seattlearea:93metersSanDiegoarea:79meters)itisusuallylessintheeastern
partofthecountry(e.g.,Bangor,MEarea:50metersMiamiarea:17metersLexington,KYarea:2meters).
YouneedtobeconcernedthatyouconverttheGPSfiletothedatumusedbyanyshapefileorcoverageyou
wishtocombinewiththeGPSdata.Youmaydeterminethedatumofthecoverageinavarietyofways.Ifyour
dataareinArcInfocoverageformattheremaybeanASCII"prj"(projection)filethatdescribestheparameters
ofthedataset.Ifyouareusingshapefilestheinformationmaybepresentaswellitwouldbefoundinafile
withtheextension"prj"appendedtothenameoftheshapefile.Aprojectionfilecontainsinformationsuchas:
Projection STATEPLANE
Zone

3976

Datum

NAD83

Zunits

NO

Units

FEET3

Spheroid

GRS1980

Xshift

0.00000000000

Yshift

0.00000000000

Parameters
Youshouldprobablycarefullyinvestigatethesourcesofthedataandtheirprocessinghistorysoyoucanbe
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certainofthedatumandotherprojectionparametersused.
Projection:Asyouwillrecall,the2DcomponentsoftheTrimbleSSFandCORfilesrepresentdatainthe
latitudeandlongitudedatumofWGS84,thoughtheymaybedisplayedinotherforms.Afundamentaldilemma
ofaspatialanalystisthatthemostaccuratewaytodepictapointontheearthssurfaceiswithlatitudeand
longitude,butthenumbersthatrepresentsuchapointareinacoordinatesystem(spherical)thatmakesitharder
tousethesenumbersincalculationforsuchquantitiesasdistanceanddirection.Makingthesecalculationsina
projectioniseasier,but,ofcourse,yougeta(usually,slightly,ifyouarecareful)wronganswer.
Further,mapsthatcoveralotofareathatareshowninlatitudelongitudeare(usually)badlydistortedvisually,
somostGISuserselecttostoredatainsomeprojectioninwhichthehorizontalandverticaldistancesonthe
mapcorrespondtotheeastwestandnorthsouthdistancesontheEarthssurface.Thesemapsappear
(generally)muchlessdistorted.However,thereisnowactualmathematicaldistortionforallbutafewpoints.
Thereisreallynogoodsolutiontothisdilemmayoumustacceptsomeinaccuracy.
Whatsvital,however,isthatyoutelltheTrimbleconversionprocessthecorrectprojectiontousesothatthe
inaccuraciesinyourGPSdatawillbeconsistentwiththoseintheotherdatayourareworkingwith.ArcView
3.xallowsyoutodisplaydatainanothercoordinatesystembesidestheoneinwhichitisrecorded.Further,Arc
View3.2containsroutineswhichallowyoutoconvertoriginaldatafromoneprojectiontoanother.
LinearMeasurementUnits:Thechoicesaremeters,feet(international),andsurveyfeet.Surveyfeetformed
thebasisoftheNAD27datum4internationalfeetwereusedinNAD83andWGS84.Whatsthedifference?
Notmuch,butenoughtobesignificantinsomesituations.Thedifferencescomefromaslightdistortionofeach
Englishunittomakeitconformtothemetricsystem.Aninternationalfootisbasedontheideathatthereare
exactly0.0254metersinaninch.Asurveyfootisbasedontheequalityofexactly39.37inchesandameter.If
thesetwoconversionswereequivalent,youshouldgetexactlythepure,unitlessnumberone(1.0000000)
whenyoumultiplythem(0.0254metersperinchtimes39.37inchespermeter).Theyarentandyouwont.
Whatistheproduct?Useacalculator.
Thefractionalpartmaylooklikeaninsignificantnumber,butitcanmeanamatterofseveralfeetacrossaState
PlaneCoordinatezone.
AngularMeasurementFormat:Angularmeasurementunitsareimportantonlyifyouareconvertingafiletoa
coveragewhichusesthelatlongraticuledirectly.Ifyoudousethegraticule,youwillwanttoselectdegrees,
anddecimalfractionsthereof,becauseESRIproductsdontdirectlyutilizeminutesandsecondsascoordinate
values.

TheOldConundrum:the"Spherical"EarthandtheFlatMap
TheGPSdatainthereceiverandinSSFfilesarestoredinlatitude,longitude,andheightaboveellipsoid
coordinates.Youcan,ofcourse,makeESRIshapefilesorcoverageswithlatitudeandlongitudedirectly,aslong
asyouselectdegreesandfractionsofadegreeastheoutputnumbers,beingsuretouseenoughdecimalplaces.
Youmaywanttodothisifyouaregoingtocombinethedatawithothercoveragesthatarestoredinthat
"projection."Afterall,thisisthemostfundamental,accurateway.Youmustrealize,however,thatanygraphic
representationofthesedatawillbebadlydistorted,exceptneartheequatorwhereadegreeoflongitudecovers
approximatelythesamedistanceasadegreeoflatitude.Anywhereelse,anyimageofthecoverageisvisually
distorted,andthelengthsofmostlinesisvirtuallymeaningless,sincethe"length"isbasedondifferences
betweenlatitudeandlongitudenumbers.SuchnumbersdonotprovideaCartesiantwodimensionalspace.
(Recalltheoldriddle:wherecanyouwalksouthonemile,eastonemile,andnorthonemile,onlytofind
yourselfbackatthestartingpoint?5NotonanyCartesianxygrid,forsure.Descartes,forhisplane,insisted
thataunitdistanceinthe"x"directionbeequivalenttoaunitdistanceinthe"y"direction.)

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RelatedLinks
GlobalPositioningSystemandGIS
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part1
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part2
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part3
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part4
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part5

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