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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.
Jul 1, 2022 · A Geographic Coordinate System is a reference framework used to define the location of features on the surface of the Earth. It is a system of latitude and longitude coordinates that defines a three-dimensional position of a point on the Earth’s surface. These coordinates are based on an ellipsoid that approximates the shape of the Earth, and ...
Geographic Coordinate Systems. Datums are one component of a geographic coordinate system (GCS). A GCS includes a datum, angular unit of measure, and a prime meridian. Datums are often thought of as geographic coordinate systems because it is very rare that the units are not degrees (versus grads) and often utilize the same prime meridians.
Mar 25, 2024 · latitude and longitude, in cartography, a coordinate system used to determine and describe the position of any place on Earth ’s surface. Latitude is a measurement of a location north or south of the Equator. In contrast, longitude is a measurement of location east or west of the prime meridian at Greenwich (an imaginary north-south line that ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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May 21, 2023 · Coordinate systems are frameworks that are used to define unique positions. For instance, in geometry, we use x (horizontal) and y (vertical) coordinates to define points on a two-dimensional plane. The coordinate system used to define locations on the three-dimensional earth is the geographic coordinate system (GCS), based on a sphere or spheroid.
The geographic coordinate system is designed specifically to define positions on the Earth's roughly-spherical surface. Instead of the two linear measurement scales, x and y, the geographic coordinate systems juxtaposes two curved measurement scales. The east-west scale, called longitude (conventionally designated by the Greek symbol lambda ...
Jan 21, 2023 · The coordinate system that is most commonly used to define locations on the three-dimensional earth is called the geographic coordinate system (GCS), and it is based on a sphere or spheroid. A spheroid (a.k.a. ellipsoid) is simply a sphere that is slightly wider than it is tall and approximates more closely the true shape of the earth.
