Geographic coordinate system

Longitude lines are perpendicular to and latitude lines are parallel to the Equator

A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude.[1] It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate tuple like a cartesian coordinate system, the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.[2]

A full GCS specification, such as those listed in the EPSG and ISO 19111 standards, also includes a choice of geodetic datum (including an Earth ellipsoid), as different datums will yield different latitude and longitude values for the same location.[3]

  1. ^ Chang, Kang-tsung (2016). Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-259-92964-9.
  2. ^ DiBiase, David. "The Nature of Geographic Information". Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Using the EPSG geodetic parameter dataset, Guidance Note 7-1". EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset. Geomatic Solutions. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.