Example: Adding a Favorite Coordinate System

In this example we add a coordinate system to the Favorite Coordinate Systems list.

 

We open any drawing or image.    We do this to gain access to the Change Projection system so we can specify a projection as a favorite.   If we want to specify a new favorite but not actually change a project we can specify the favorite and then exit the process without changing the projection of the drawing or image used.

 

For this example we will open the image of Florida terrain elevation data used in the Example: Change Projection of an Image topic.  We will follow a process of choosing a new projection like that shown in the example topic.

 

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With the focus on the opened Florida image, in the Contents pane click the coordinate system picker button for the Florida layer and click Change Coordinate System.

 

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In the Change Coordinate System dialog we click Edit Favorites  to open the Favorite Coordinate Systems dialog.

 

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That launches the Favorites dialog that allows us to manage our favorite coordinate systems.  The dialog opens with the two, factory default favorite coordinate systems in the list.

 

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We click the Add button to add a new favorite coordinate system to the list.  That launches the full Coordinate System dialog that allows us to choose from thousands of systems or to create a custom system.

 

We click the Custom tab since the coordinate system we want to save as a favorite will be an Orthographic projection centered on Florida.

 

eg_add_fav_coordsys01_02.png

Since we would like our saved favorite to have a more memorable name than "Custom Coordinate System" we enter the Name of Florida Orthographic.    We enter the Center latitude of 29 and the Center longitude of -82, the lat/lon of Ocala, Florida, which we reckon to be close enough to the center for how we will be using this projection.    We press OK.

 

eg_add_fav_coordsys01_02a.png

 

Back in the Favorites dialog we see that the new coordinate system has been added to the list of favorites.  We press OK.

 

eg_add_fav_coordsys01_03.png

 

Back in the Change Coordinate System dialog we again click the coordinate system picker button.

 

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In the resulting menu we now see the Florida Orthographic custom projection we added to our favorites.  We click that to choose it.

 

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Like magic, the Florida Orthographic coordinate system is specified as the New coordinate system.   To change the projection and copy the data into a new component using the changed projection we press Add Component.  

 

That creates a new image, called Florida 2 and an accompanying table in the Project.   We can double-click open the new Florida 2 image.

 

eg_add_fav_coordsys01_06.png

 

The new image shows the terrain a bit narrower, a typical effect of Orthographic centered upon Florida given that the original Latitude / Longitude projection shows the terrain a bit wider than it would look when seen in real life from space.

 

We see the new image is as yet not styled.  That's easy to fix.  We could either open the Style dialog and style the image, or we can simply copy and paste the styling from the original Florida image into the new Florida 2 image in the mfd_meta table as discussed in the Example: Change Projection of an Image  topic.

 

eg_add_fav_coordsys01_07.png

 

 

At this point we have added a favorite coordinate system to our favorites list.   If we do not want to change the projection of the Florida terrain data set, we do not press the Add Component button but instead press the Close button.

Notes

Synonyms -  Cartographers favor the term projection while programmers seem to prefer coordinate system.  This documentation uses the two terms interchangeably, with the term projection tending to be used more in GIS or display contexts and the term coordinate system tending to be used more when discussing programming, SQL or standards.

See Also

Coordinates

 

Projections

 

Assign Initial Coordinate System

 

Change Coordinate System

 

Map Projection

 

Coordinate System

 

Base Coordinate System

 

Favorite Coordinate Systems

 

Favorite Base Coordinate Systems

 

Example: Change Projection of an Image - Use the Change Coordinate System command to change the projection of an image, raster data showing terrain elevations in a region of Florida, from Latitude / Longitude to Orthographic centered on Florida.

 

Re-Projection Creates a New Image - Why changing the projection of an image creates a new image.

 

About Coordinate Systems

 

Projections Tutorial