Projection

The Projection panel of the Configure dialog (pictured below) is used to modify the projection and datum that the currently loaded data is displayed in.

Access the Projection by selecting the configure button Configuration button from the File Toolbar or Tools menu, and navigating to the Projection section in the Projection folder. The current map projection may also be accessed by double clicking on Current Workspace at the top of the Control Center.

Projection

Use the Projection pull-down menu to select the projection to display the currently loaded data in. For a complete list of projections see Projection Definitions .

The Geographic projection is really the absence of a projection. It is just a linear mapping of latitude/ longitude (3D position on the globe) to a 2D grid.

The projection specified in the configuration dialog is the display projection. All other data will be transformed into this projection for drawing/ displaying. The projection for the workspace is set by the first data that is loaded into the workspace. Otherwise, the default projection when starting with digitizing is Geographic Latitude/ Longitude WGS84.

Save to File, Load from File

You can save the currently selected projection to a PRJ file using the Save to File button. Previously saved PRJ, WKT TXT and ESRI XML files can be loaded using the Load from File button. Load projections from GeoCalcOnline by logging in and saving the WKT to a TXT file, then load in Global Mapper.

By default, the PRJ file will be saved in the newer WKT (well-known-text) format used by most products. For more information on the formats and custom projections, see Loading Projections

Search by EPSG code

To find the EPSG code for a projection, check GeoCalcOnline or the EPSG registry.The Search by EPSG Code button allows you to initialize a projection definition based on a numeric EPSG projected coordinate system definition. There are numerous built-in EPSG code definitions, but by no means is there an exhaustive set.

To see previously entered codes, in the EPSG Code dialog click on the arrow in the search box to show a dropdown list. Codes 4326 [WGS 84] and 3395 [WGS 84 / World Mercator] are included by default.

Add custom EPSG code definitions (or modify built-in ones) by modifying the epsg_codes.txt file installed in your Global Mapper installation folder. This file also stores custom projection names, which will not display in the interface, but will be used for exported prj files.

The format is described in the file header. You must re-start Global Mapper after changing this file for the changes to have any effect.

Initialize from Layer

When loading files, you can select a projection from an existing/loaded layer's projection by clicking the Initialize from Layer button.

Zone

The Zone selection allows you to select the zone for use with the UTM, State Plane, Gauss Krueger, and other zoned projections.

Datum

The Datum pull-down is used to select the datum to use in association with the projection. The most commonly used datums are WGS84, NAD27, and NAD83.

For a complete list of Datums see .

Planar Units

With the Planar Units pull-down select the ground units to use with the projection. For more information see Projections: Planar Units

Parameters

For those projections that require additional parameters to fully define them, the Attributes table allows you to enter the values for each applicable parameter. Parameters shown in grey are not editable, because they are part of the named projection definition.

To modify the parameters of a named projection, chose the matching generic projection method, and all matching attributes will be copied. For example, to create a custom projection starting from a UTM zone definition, select the UTM zone, then switch the projection name from UTM to Transverse Mercator.

With a Geographic Calculator license, the standard projection tab is superceded by the GeoCalc Projection Tab . GeoCalc Mode supports more advanced projection control, especially in relation to picking the highest accuracy transformations data that needs to be reprojected. See GeoCalc Mode: Projections and Datums for more information.

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