B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

Appendix B Conversion and projection of co-

ordinates
The textual display of coordinates in the P OSITION I NFORMATION PANEL (See Section 5.2.1 on
page 18) or the graphical display of coordinates in the P LANIMETRIC P LOT (See Section 6.4 on
page 34) allow to switch between different representations of the current position. The cartesian,
geodetic and geocentric coordinates result from coordinate conversions based on the current refer-
ence ellipsoid (See Section B.1). The cartographic projection is obtained by applying the forward
mapping equations of the conformal direct Mercator projection (See Section B.2 on the following
page) while the topocentric coordinates are formed from a plane tangent to the Earth’s surface fixed
to a specific location (See Section B.3 on page 67).

B.1 Coordinate conversions on an ellipsoid

A point on or near the surface of the Earth can be represented by its cartesian or ECEF (Earth
Centered Earth Fixed) coordinates (X, Y, Z), geodetic coordinates latitude, longitude and ellipsoidal
height (ϕ, λ, h) or geocentric coordinates latitude, longitude and geocentric distance (Φ, Λ, r). The
conversion between these representations is done on the ellipsoid of revolution which is the mathe-
matical approximation of the Earth’s surface.

The ellipsoid is completely parameterized by its geodetic defining parameters5 semi-major axis a and
flattening f . From these parameters it is possible to derive the semi-minor axis b, the first numeric
eccentricity e and the second eccentricity e′ using the formulas in the following table.

Parameter Value
semi-minor axis b = a (1 − f )
1 − b2
first eccentricity squared e2 = = 2f − f 2
a2
a2 f (2 − f )
second eccentricity e′2 = 2 − 1 =
b (1 − f )2

It is important to note the difference between the geodetic latitude ϕ and the geocentric latitude Φ. The
geodetic latitude ϕ is determined by the angle between the normal n of the ellipsoid and the plane
of the equator, whereas the geocentric latitude Φ is determined around the center of the ellipsoid
(Figure B-1 on the following page).

The direct and inverse conversion between cartesian and geodetic coordinates is done according to :

Z + e2 rn sin ϕ
  
arctan √
2 +Y 2
X
       
X (rn + h) cos ϕ cos λ ϕ  
 Y 
 Y  =  (rn + h) cos ϕ sin λ  and  λ =
  arctan 
2 X 
Z ((1 − e )rn + h) sin ϕ h  √ 
 X2 + Y 2 
− rn
cos ϕ
a
where rn = √ is the local curvature of the ellipsoid along the first vertical.
1−e2 sin2 ϕ

5 1
The defining geodetic parameters for the WGS84 ellipsoid are a = 6 378 137,0 m and f
= 298,257 223 563

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 B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

rotation axis
h

r
Φ
ϕ
equator plane
rn

ellipsoid

Figure B-1: Difference between geodetic latitude ϕ and geocentric latitude Φ

The conversion between cartesian and geocentric coordinates follow the relations :
π Z
 
  
X r cos Λ sin Φ
  
Φ −
 2 r 
 Y  =  r sin Λ sin Φ  and Λ =  Y 
p arctan X
 
Z r cos Φ r

2
X +Y +Z 2 2

B.2 The conformal direct Mercator projection

The conformal direct Mercator cartographic projection displays the projected north N versus pro-
jected east E coordinates obtained by applying the following projection formulae :

E = f1 (ϕ, λ)
N = f2 (ϕ, λ)

As in all cylindrical projections, parallels and meridians are straight and perpendicular to each other.
In accomplishing this, the unavoidable east-west stretching of the map, which increases as distance
away from the equator increases, is accompanied by a corresponding north-south stretching, so that
at every point location, the east-west scale is the same as the north-south scale, making the projection
conformal.

A Mercator map (See Figure B-2 on the next page) can never fully show the polar areas, since linear
scale becomes infinitely high at the poles. Being a conformal projection, angles are preserved around
all locations, however scale varies from place to place, distorting the size of geographical objects, as
can be seen by the indicatrix of Tissot represented on Figure B-2 on the following page. In particular,
areas closer to the poles are more affected, transmitting an image of the geometry of the planet which
is more distorted the closer to the poles. At latitudes above N 70 ◦ or below S 70 ◦ , the Mercator
projection becomes practically unusable.

The forward mapping for the applied Mercator projection are :


E = k0 × (λ − λ0 ) + fE

N = k0 × ln tan π4 + ϕ2 + fN

The scale factor k0 used is the semi-major axis of the WGS84 ellipsoid and the prime meridian is used
as central longitude λ0 . The origin is offset by applying a false east and north translation fE = fN =
25 000 km.

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