What is meant by state plane coordinate system?

The state plane coordinate system (SPCS or SPS) is a collection of 124 coordinate systems or geographic zones prepared for particular regions of the U.S. Every state consists of one or more than one state plane zone, the boundaries of which generally follow the county lines. Inside the U.S., there are 110 zones in total, 10 more zones in Alaska, 5 in Hawaii, and 1 for Puerto Rico and US Virgin islands. The system is extensively used for geospatial and geographic data assembling by the state and local governments.

Factors responsible for its outreach

1. It uses easy to understand, cartesian coordinate system to mark locations rather than a more complicated spherical coordinate system. The spherical coordinate system is the geographic coordinate system of longitude and latitude. By taking into account the XY coordinates of the Cartesian coordinate system, the plane surveying methods can be utilized, accelerating and clarifying the calculations.
2. The system is largely precise within every zone (error < 1:10,000). In the outer area of a definite state plane zone, precision quickly reduces. Thus, the system is not useful for national or regional mapping.

Nearly, all the state plane zones are established either on a Transverse Mercator projection or a Lambert Conformal conic projection. The alternative between the Lambert Conformal conic projection and the Transverse Mercator projection is rested on the shape of the state and its zones. States that are in the long east-west direction are normally segregated into zones that are also long east-west. These zones use the Lambert conformal conic projection since it is great at preserving the accuracy along the east-west axis, due to the projection cone bisecting the surface of the earth along the two latitude lines. Zones that are long in the north-south direction use the Transverse Mercator projection since it is preferable at conserving the accuracy along a north-south axis, due to the circumference of the projection cylinder being aligned along a meridian of longitude. The panhandle of Alaska, whose highest dimension is on a diagonal, applies an Oblique Mercator projection, which reduces the altogether error in the X-Y coordinates.

Cartography

The process of illustrating graphically a geographic area, normally on a chart or map inclusive of physical, political, and other features is known as cartography, and the one who creates them is called a cartographer.

History

In 1933, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDT) asked the geodetic survey coast to accompany them in producing an all-inclusive methodology for transforming curvilinear coordinates to a user-friendly, 2-D Cartesian coordinate system. This request was generated into SPCS, which is now the most exclusively used coordinate information expression in local and regional surveying and mapping implementations in the U.S. and its boundaries. When computers started using Esri ArcGIS software for mapping purposes, the state plane system's cartesian grid system and easy evaluations made geospatial processing quicker and spatial data simpler to work with.

Although computer processing power has enhanced and upgraded at tremendous speed, since the early days of the Esri ArcGIS software, the quantity of spatial datasets and the multiplicity of geoprocessing work is being demanded of computers have also enlarged. Therefore, the state plane coordinate system is still applicable.

The state plane coordinate systems were situated on the North American Datum in 1927 (NAD 27). After that, the more precise North American Datum in 1983 (NAD 83) became conventional. A geodetic datum is a manner in which a coordinate system is connected to the Earth). Nowadays, an effort has been made to maximize the accuracy of the NAD 83 datum known as the "High Accuracy Reference Network" (HARN) or the "High Precision GPS Network" (HPGN). Also, the standard distance unit is seldom meters or feet. Therefore, a completely detailed coordinate system is frequently represented as "Washington State Plane North, NAD 83 HARN, US Survey feet". These details are required to precisely convert data from one coordinate system to another.

Difficulties

The major difficulty with the state plane coordinate system is that every zone employs a different coordinate system. If it is inside the state plane zone boundaries, there won’t be an issue. But the necessity to modify spatial data from one coordinate system to another may be cumbersome. The Seattle metropolitan area crossed the state plane boundary. The city of Seattle which contains king county utilizes the ‘Washington State plane North’ coordinate system, whereas the city of Tacoma which contains pierce county utilizes Washington state plane south. Therefore, any regional agency that requires to merge the regional data from local governments has to alter at least certain data into a single coordinate system.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an American scientific research and regulation organization inside the United States Department of Commerce that predicts whether conditions and calamities and supervises marine animals’ preservation and conservation of endangered animals in the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)

The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are the conventional declared standards to the public determined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for applications in a variety of computer and technology systems by non-military American government agencies and government contractors.

National Geodetic Survey (NGS)

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) also known as the United States Survey Coast is a U.S. Federal Agency that supervises the national coordinate system giving the basics of transportation and communication system, mapping, and a variety of uses in science and engineering. It is the field of NOAA of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Context and Applications

• Bachelors in Technology (Civil Engineering)
• Masters in Technology (Civil Engineering)
• Bachelors in Technology (Remote Sensing)
• Masters in Science (Geospatial Systems Engineering)

Practice Problems

1. What is the full form of NOAA?

1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2. National Optic and Equator Administration
3. National Equator and Acceleration Administration
4. National Optic and Atmospheric Administration

Correct option- a

Explanation: The full form of NOAA is National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

2. Efforts are made to increase the accuracy of the NAD 83 datum which is known as-

1. SPCS
2. Grid
3. HARN
4. Esri ArcGIS

Correct option- c

Explanation: Efforts made to increase the accuracy of the NAD 83 datum are known as HARN.

3. The person who makes illustrative graphical maps is called-

1. Cartography
2. Cartographer
3. Panhandle
4. Spherical

Correct option- b

Explanation: The person who makes illustrative graphical maps is called a cartographer.

4. Which of the following statements is false?

1. There are in total 110 zones in the US, with 10 in Alaska, 5 in Hawaii, and 1 for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.
2. The state plane coordinate systems were situated on the North American datum in 1927 (NAD 27).
3. The major difficulty with the state plane coordinate system is that each zone employs a different coordinate system.
4. None of these

Correct option- d

Explanation: All the above statements are true and correct.

5. Which of the following organizations predicts weather forecasts?

1. NOAA
2. FIPS
3. NGS
4. False Easting

Correct option: a

Explanation: The organization that predicts weather forecasts is NOAA.

Related Concepts

• SPC (Statistical Process Control)
• Defense mapping agency
• Traverse survey
• False easting coordinate grid
• Geographic information grid system
• Geographical spatial data analysis
• Central meridian