Basic GIS Coordinates

Product Description

Coordinates are integral building tools for GIS, cartography, surveying and are vital to the many applications we use today such as smart phones, car navigation systems and driverless cars. Basic GIS Coordinates, Third Edition grants readers with a solid understanding of coordinates and coordinate systems and how they operate as well as valuable insight into what causes them to malfunction. This practical and comprehensive guide lays out the foundation of a coordinate system and the implications behind building it as it elaborates on heights, two coordinate systems, and the rectangular system.The previous editions described horizontal and vertical datums such as the North American Datum 1983 (NAD 83) and the North American Vertical Datum 1988 (NAVD 88). Both will be replaced in 2022 or thereabouts. The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) plans to replace NAD83 with a new semi-dynamic terrestrial reference frame for North America and a new vertical datum will replace NAVD88. The foundation of the new vertical datum will be a temporally tracked gravimetric geoid. The interim period is intended to smooth the transition to the new paradigm and this new edition explores the changes and provides assistance in understanding them.

Review

“Dr. Van Sickle has made yet another contribution to the field with this update on his popular book, Basic GIS Coordinates. As demonstrated with this book, he has a unique capability for explaining the complications and nuances of coordinate systems in an understandable manner. This book should have a prominent place in the library of the many people having a role in using coordinate systems for their work and everyday life.”―Lynn E. Johnson, University of Colorado, Denver, USA
“No GIS educator or practitioner should be without Basic GIS Coordinates. Jan Van Sickle explains some of our field’s most challenging, yet fundamental, concepts with unsurpassed clarity. His combination of long professional experience, deep study, and clear expression prepare him uniquely to create this invaluable reference work. Meanwhile, the impending replacement of North America’s primary horizontal and vertical datums add a new sense of urgency to this welcome 3rd edition.”―David DiBiase, Esri, Redlands, California, USA
“This book address the issue of accurately representing our 3D planet in a 2D forum. The author covers the traditional ways of representing location in X,Y, and Z space and the challenges with these techniques; and provides a comprehensive view of coordinate systems, datums, and other details associated with location description.” ― Kumar Navulur, PhD, Frederick, Colorado, USA
“The Basic GIS Coordinates by Dr. Van Sickle has become a favorite book for many of my students. I would recommend this book to everybody who wants to learn the foundations of the coordinate systems, datums, and basic geodetic principals. There are several other books on this subject, but Basic GIS Coordinates stands above all of them for one simple reason: the genuine way of describing complex scientific principals in plain English without extensive heavy mathematics. I strongly recommend.”― Apostol Panayotov, University of Col

About the Author

Jan Van Sickle has many years of experience in GIS, GPS, surveying, mapping, and imagery. He began working with GPS in the early 1980s when he supervised control work using the Macrometer, the first commercial GPS receiver. He created and led the GIS department at Qwest Communications, Denver, Colorado, for the company’s 25,000-mile worldwide fiber optic network. He also led the team that built the GIS for natural gas gathering in the Barnett Shale. He has led nationwide seminars based on his three books: GPS for Land Surveyors, Basic GIS Coordinates, and Surveying Solved Problems. He led the team that collected, processed, and reported control positions for more than 120 cities around the world for the ortho-rectification of satellite imagery now utilized in a gl