The Transverse Mercator projection¶
In this exercise we will introduce the Transverse Mercator projection, the UTM projection and the relationship between the two.
In addition we will investigate the differences between the two Transverse Mercator implementations available in PROJ and when one should be used in favour of the other.
Download the gie file for the exercise: projections3.gie.
Exercise 1. Transverse Mercator with default parameters¶
Set up a Transverse Mercator projection using the default parameters.
Hint
Consult Transverse Mercator
operation <your answer here>
tolerance 1 mm
accept 24.745 56.437 # Talinn, Estonia
expect 1506742.2481 6535299.3398
Exercise 2: Use the Transverse Mercator to model the UTM projection¶
The backbone of the UTM projection is a Transverse Mercator projection. In this exercise we will model the behavior of the UTM projection using the Transverse Mercator.
Hint
Remember that the UTM projection on the Northern Hemisphere uses a scale factor of 0.9996, a false easting of 500000 and a false northing of 0. UTM on the Southern Hemisphere is similar but with a false northing of 10000000.
Hint
The projection center is determined from the UTM zone and can be determined by zone*6 - 183
Hint
Tranverse Mercator parameters are documented at Transverse Mercator
operation <your answer here>
tolerance 1 mm
accept 24.745 56.437 # Talinn, Estonia
expect 360965.5942 6256998.5609
Exercise 3: The less accurate, but faster, version of the Tranverse Mercator¶
As mentioned in the introduction to this set of exercises, two versions of the Transverse Mercator is implemented in PROJ. The default uses the Engsager/Poder algorithm which is accurate far away from the central meridian of the projection. The downside to this accuracy is that the algorithm is slower. The alternative algorithm, which is toggled by the +approx parameter, is faster but usage is recommended only within a few degrees away from the central meridian.
In this and the following exercises we will explore the accuracy of the two algorithms by checking the roundtrip stability of a number of transformations. A coordinate in Greenland will be used, as it is common practice to store geospatial data covering the whole country in the same UTM zone. This is only possible when using the correct algorithm. For the sake of simplicity, all operations in the following exercises are expressed as UTM projections. The UTM projection also has the +approx parameter which toggles the use of the faster, less accurate transverse mercator algorithm.
We will try to determine the approximate roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm several UTM zones away from the actual zone for the given coordinate. For all the exercises below the aim is to find the lowest tolerance for each roundtrip test. You can of course make all tests pass by setting a tolerance of 1000 km - that's not the point: How low can you go?
After you have answered all exercise 3 questions below, based on your findings consider in which situation use of each of the algorithms is appropriate.
Hint
gie accepts most common SI unit prefixes to the meter when specifying the tolerance, e.g. km, m, dm, cm, mm, um, nm.
Hint
Look at the output gie produces - the difference between the actual result and the expected result is reported when tests fail.
Exercise 3a¶
As a baseline, determine the roundtrip accuracy of the default algorirthm using UTM zone 22.
operation +proj=utm +zone=22
tolerance <your answer here> # Hint: You can go *very* low here
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland (~30 degrees from central meridian)
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3b¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 22:
operation +proj=utm +zone=22 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland (~30 degrees from central meridian)
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3c¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 23.
operation +proj=utm +zone=23 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3d¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 24:
operation +proj=utm +zone=24 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3e¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 25:
operation +proj=utm +zone=25 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3f¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 26:
operation +proj=utm +zone=26 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland
roundtrip 1000
Exercise 3g¶
Determine the roundtrip accuracy of the +approx algorithm using UTM zone 27:
operation +proj=utm +zone=27 +approx
tolerance <your answer here>
accept -20.0 74 # Daneborg, Greenland
roundtrip 1000