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Work with coordinate systems

A coordinate system is a reference framework that defines the position of features in the two- or three-dimensional space. The Globe view uses coordinate systems to locate and display data correctly on the Earth's surface and relative to one another. Coordinate systems can be horizontal, defining where features are across the globe, or vertical, defining how high or deep features are relative to a surface.

Data added to the Globe should always have horizontal and vertical coordinate systems. Only non-custom, projected coordinate systems are supported.

Set the coordinate system

You can set the coordinate systems of features directly, from a layer in the project, or from another data source.

Choose a coordinate system from a list

In the Spatial Reference dialog box, you can see your Horizontal systems and Vertical systems, in the Available Coordinate Systems box.

The Selected Coordinate Systems heading shows the current horizontal and vertical coordinate systems of the feature, respectively. It could be there is none yet assigned. Click the name of the coordinate system for either coordinate system (in blue text) to see how they are defined.

To set the coordinate systems by choosing one from a list, open the Spatial Reference and complete the following steps:

  1. From the list of coordinate systems shown, choose an appropriate coordinate system for your data.

    1. Right-click a coordinate system and click Details to see the coordinate system parameters. The valid area of use for each coordinate system is specified in the list of details, and also visualized as a blue rectangle on the map at the bottom of the dialog box. If the area is very small, it may appear as only a point instead.

    2. Optionally, in the Search box, enter a coordinate system and press Enter to locate a coordinate system.

    3. Optionally, expand the Spatial Filter menu and click Set spatial filter to filter by spatial extent. The next section provides more information about filtering coordinate systems.

  2. Click OK to set the coordinate systems.

Choose a coordinate system by spatial extent

When you choose from the list of coordinate systems, you can filter the choices by specifying a spatial extent.

To filter list choices by specifying a spatial extent, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Spatial Reference dialog box, click the Horizontal systems or Vertical systems tab.

  2. Expand the Spatial Filter menu and click Set spatial filter to open the dialog box to filter by spatial extent.

  3. Provide values for the four coordinates to define the spatial extent and click OK.

    The Spatial Filter Extent dialog closes.

    The coordinate systems list is filtered to those whose area of use partially intersects the specified spatial extent.

  4. On the Spatial Reference dialog box, in the Available Coordinate Systems box, click the Horizontal systems or Vertical systems tab and choose a coordinate system from the filtered list.

  5. Click OK to set the coordinate systems.

Set the coordinate system from a layer

Follow these steps to define coordinate systems for your data from a layer within your project. It is recommended that you do this to ensure that all data from a single project shares the same coordinate systems.

  1. In the Spatial Reference dialog box, click the Horizontal systems or Vertical systems tab.

  2. In the list, click the Layers folder. Expand a coordinate system heading to see the layers that reference it.

  3. Click OK to set the coordinate systems.

Save coordinate systems

If there are coordinate systems you use often in your projects, you can add them to your list of Favorites to make them easier to find. Favorites are available across all your projects. You can also save any coordinate system as a projection file (.prj file extension). Projection files can be used to share your coordinate systems with others.

Save a coordinate system as a favorite

Follow these steps to save a coordinate system as a favorite:

  1. In the Spatial Reference dialog box, click the Horizontal systems or Vertical systems tab.

  2. Right-click a coordinate system and click Add to Favorites .

The coordinate system appear under the Favorites heading in this list for easy reference.

Save a coordinate system as a projection file

You can save a coordinate system as a projection file (.prj) for sharing. Projection files contain a well-known text (WKT) representation of the coordinate system, initially defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Choose between the newer WKT2 standard, which is the default option, or the Esri WKT version, which is used in prior releases of ArcGIS Pro.

Dive in:

The WKT2 standard provides a representation of the coordinate reference system (CRS) data model standard. Read about this specification here: OGC Abstract Specification Topic 2: Referencing by coordinates, 18-005r4.

Follow these steps to save a coordinate system as a projection file:

  1. In the Spatial Reference dialog box, click the Horizontal systems or Vertical systems tab.

  2. Right-click a coordinate system in the list and click Save as Projection File .

  3. On the Save Coordinate System as PRJ File dialog box, browse to a location on your file system, and type a file name.

  4. In the drop-down menu next to the file name, choose a WKT file format:

    • WKT2 (.prj)—This option uses a more complete representation of the coordinate reference system (CRS) data model standard. This is the default.

    • Esri WKT (.prj)—This option uses an Esri implementation of an earlier OGC WKT standard. Choose this option for use in versions prior to ArcGIS Pro 3.6.

  5. Click Save to save the projection file.

Work with vertical coordinate systems

In Reality Studio, the data you add to your project must have both horizontal and vertical coordinate systems defined. To set an ellipsoidal vertical coordinate system, it must share the same datum as the horizontal coordinate system. The datum name, spheroid name, and all spheroid properties of the two coordinate systems must match.

If the current horizontal coordinate system is incompatible with the current vertical coordinate system, follow these steps to choose compatible horizontal and vertical coordinate system pairs:

  1. In the Spatial Reference dialog box, click the Vertical systems tab and choose Coordinate System None from the list.

  2. Under the Available Coordinate Systems heading, click the Horizontal systems tab and choose a coordinate system from the list with a datum that matches the ellipsoidal vertical coordinate system.

    To see a coordinate system's datum, right-click it in the list and click Details .

  3. Click the Vertical systems tab again and choose an ellipsoidal vertical coordinate system that shares the same datum from the list.

  4. Click OK to set the vertical coordinate system.