An Introduction to Coordinate Systems in

South Africa
A.Mitchell
Surveying & Land Information Dept
(October 2011)

Centuries ago people believed that the earth was flat and
notwithstanding that if this had been true it would have pro-
duced serious problems for mariners sailing off to explore
the world it would nevertheless have made life a lot simpler
for surveyors in preparing maps.

Unfortunately for us the earth is an irregular shape which is

roughly spherical. The figure below illustrates this irregular-
ity (land areas in green and seas in blue).

Model of the Earth

Surface of the Earth

Mathematicians need to define a theoreti-
Land
cal surface on which to base calculations.
The figure most commonly used is the
ellipsoid (imagine a sphere which has
been flattened at the poles). This is repre-
sented on the figure to the left by a red
Sea dotted line.

Geoid You can see

this polar flat-
Ellipsoid tening in the
globe on the
right

Once an ellipsoid has been defined, lines of latitude and longitude can be gener-
ated for that ellipsoid.

Lines of longitude are great circles which pass through both the north and south
poles. 0° longitude passes through the Greenwich observatory in London, England. Values of longitude (0°
to 360°) increase in an easterly direction around the globe. Longitude 31° east passes directly through
Durban (and also Harare in Zimbabwe and Cairo in Egypt).

Lines of latitude are defined a right angles to lines of longitude. The largest such line is equidistant from
both the north and south poles and is defined as the equator at 0° latitude. Values north of the equator in-
crease positively to 90° at the north pole and values south of the equator increase positively to 90° at the
south pole (southerly latitude values sometimes are given negative values).

latitude longitude
North +

Equator West -
East +

South -
Prime
meridian
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 It is important to note that values of latitude & longitude
are angles subtended from the centre of the defined ellip-
soid and as such are complicated to work with for survey
calculations. The vast majority of maps and plans are two
dimensional and what is needed are values which define
two dimensional position - for example values of Y and X.

To do this, ellipsoidal values need to be “projected” onto a

plane surface using simple shapes as illustrated below.
The type of projection chosen is dependant on the shape
and position of the area to be mapped. The idea is to pro-
ject with minimum distortion but we must understand that
no projection will be perfect - imagine pealing an orange
and trying to press the peal onto a flat surface without
tearing it.

A common type of projection used world wide is the “Transverse Mercator Projection”. It is a variation
of the cylindrical projection shown above but the imaginary cylinder is positioned in contact with a de-
fined line of longitude. You can see from the illustration below right that distortion occurs both east
and west of this defined line of longitude.

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THE UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR
PROJECTION (UTM)

This is an internationally used projection system.

The globe is divided into sixty zones each 6° wide.
The imaginary cylinder is progressively positioned over the mid point
of each zone to create a series of coordinate systems. There is still a
bit of distortion so a scale factor is applied to all calculations to try
and minimize this.

SOUTH AFRICA’S NATIONAL COORDINATE SYSTEM

In South Africa, a variation of the UTM projection called the “Gauss Conformal Projection” is used
to define our national coordinate system. The principles of the projection are the same but each
zone is only 2° wide (as opposed to 6° wide). There is less distortion and no scale factor is
required. Longitudes 17°East, 19°East, 21°East, 23°East, 25°East, 27°East, 29°East, 31°East and
33°East are used as the mid-points of each 2° projection.
These coordinate zones were referred to as Lo17, Lo19, Lo21 ..etc (Cape Datum) until 1999 when
the national system
changed from one based on
the Clarke 1880 modified
ellipsoid to the more
internationally recognised
WGS84 ellipsoid.
The coordinate zones are
now referred to as Wg17,
Wg19, Wg21 ..etc
(Haartebeeshoek 1994
datum).
The coordinate zone in use
in the Durban area is Wg31
because as mentioned
earlier, longitude 31° east
runs directly through the
city.

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 THE NATIONAL COORDINATE SYSTEM
USED IN THE DURBAN AREA

Directions
Angles of direction
increase positively
in a clockwise direc-
tion.
The direction 0°
points south

Programmes such as ArcView interpret Y and Distortions

X values in UTM orientation as shown below Distortion increases with
in blue. distance away from the
This is why coordinates in our National Sys-
tem have to appear reversed and of opposite central meridian
sign in order for their relative positions to be (longitude 31°
viewed correctly in ArcView. east) .This affects both
ie X(ArcView) = -Y(wg31) and distance and direction
Y(ArcView) = -X(wg31) PTO for more ...
measurements.
Corrections have to be
applied to their values to
enable accurate calcula-
tions of both Y and X
coordinates.

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 THE EFFECT ON SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL
SYSTEM COORDINATES WHEN USED IN
Northings
(Y values) INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE ie ArcView, Auto-
increase Cad etc

UTM International software such as the ESRI products

(ArcGIS etc) and AutoDesk products (AutoCad etc)
Origin (0,0) interpret coordinate values
Eastings (X values) increase in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) orienta-
Equator
tion as shown in blue to the left.
Y values increase
UTM values are referred to as Eastings and Nor-
things (X’s & Y’s).
SOUTH AFRICAN
COORDINATE South African National Coordinates (SA) are re-
SYSTEM X values
increase
ferred to as Y’s and X’s .
If our SA values are simply entered without correc-
tion, then the software will interpret our Y’s as Nor-
things and our X’s as Eastings
Longitude of zone origin.
(31° East in Durban area) ie Y values(SA) are read as Y values (UTM) and are
therefore increasing positively northwards instead of
westwards AND X values(SA) are read as X values
(UTM) and are therefore increasing positively east-
ward instead of southward - all relative to the coor-
Y coordinates increase positively to the west
dinate origin which is the Equator and the central
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL meridian of the coordinate zone (which in the Dur-
COORDINATE SYSTEM ban area is longitude 31° East).

It may be possible in some software to enter the

necessary predefined coordinates systems within
“coordinate settings” options, but if not, in order to
view South African National Coordinate System
values in their correct relative positions , it is neces-
sary to enter their values as follows:
X coordi- X value (UTM) = Y value (SA) x( –1)
nates in- Y value (UTM) = X value (SA) x( –1)
crease posi-
tively to the Although relative position is now correct,
south
It should be noted that the displayed coordinates
will still have opposite signs and maps produced
with grid values will reflect this as seen on the map
to the left. All maps produced using this software
and displaying coordinate grid values, should there-
fore include an explanatory note referring to this.
Note : For correct Y and X An example appears on the map to the left.
Northings (or Y
coordinates) grid coordinates, multiply
increase to the both values by –1 ArcView ver10 now has settings which enable
north South African system coordinates and grid values to
be viewed correctly but be aware that all datasets
used in GIS software should have coordinate sys-
UTM tems defined. If not, they may not display correctly.
COORDINATE SYSTEM
Eastings (or X coordinates) increase to the east
Should anyone require advice or clarity on any as-
pect of the use of coordinates in general, please do
not hesitate to contact the writer or the Land Survey-
ing Branch of the Surveying & Land Information
Department.
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