rgdal (version 0.7-7)

spTransform-methods: Methods for Function spTransform for map projection and datum transformation in package "rgdal"

Description

The spTransform methods provide transformation between datum(s) and conversion between projections (also known as projection and/or re-projection), from one unambiguously specified coordinate reference system to another, using PROJ.4 projection arguments. For simple projection, when no +datum tags are used, datum projection does not occur. When datum transformation is required, the +datum tag should be present with a valid value both in the CRS of the object to be transformed, and in the target CRS. In general +datum= is to be prefered to +ellps=, because the datum always fixes the ellipsoid, but the ellipsoid never fixes the datum.

In addition, the +towgs84 tag should be used where needed to make sure that datum transformation does take place. Parameters for +towgs84 will be taken from the bundled EPSG database if they are known unequivocally, but may be entered manually from known authorities. Not providing the appropriate +datum and +towgs84 tags may lead to coordinates being out by hundreds of metres. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to provide this information: the user has to know the correct metadata for the data being used, even if this can be hard to discover.

Examples

data(state)
states <- data.frame(state.x77, state.center)
states <- states[states$x > -121,]
coordinates(states) <- c("x", "y")
proj4string(states) <- CRS("+proj=longlat +ellps=clrk66")
summary(states)
state.ll83 <- spTransform(states, CRS("+proj=longlat +ellps=GRS80"))
summary(state.ll83)
state.merc <- spTransform(states, CRS=CRS("+proj=merc +ellps=GRS80"))
summary(state.merc)
state.merc <- spTransform(states,
 CRS=CRS("+proj=merc +ellps=GRS80 +units=us-mi"))
summary(state.merc)
if (projNAD()) {
states <- data.frame(state.x77, state.center)
states <- states[states$x > -121,]
coordinates(states) <- c("x", "y")
proj4string(states) <- CRS("+init=epsg:4267")
print(summary(states))
state.ll83 <- spTransform(states, CRS("+init=epsg:4269"))
print(summary(state.ll83))
state.kansasSlcc <- spTransform(states, CRS=CRS("+init=epsg:26978"))
print(summary(state.kansasSlcc))
SFpoint_NAD83 <- SpatialPoints(matrix(c(-103.869667, 44.461676), nrow=1),
 proj4string=CRS("+init=epsg:4269"))
SFpoint_NAD27 <- spTransform(SFpoint_NAD83, CRS("+init=epsg:4267"))
print(all.equal(coordinates(SFpoint_NAD83), coordinates(SFpoint_NAD27)))
print(coordinates(SFpoint_NAD27), digits=12)
print(coordinates(SFpoint_NAD83), digits=12)
}
data(meuse)
coordinates(meuse) <- c("x", "y")
proj4string(meuse) <- CRS(paste("+init=epsg:28992",
 "+towgs84=565.237,50.0087,465.658,-0.406857,0.350733,-1.87035,4.0812"))
# see http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/ticket/1987
summary(meuse)
meuse.utm <- spTransform(meuse, CRS("+proj=utm +zone=32 +datum=WGS84"))
summary(meuse.utm)
cbind(coordinates(meuse), coordinates(meuse.utm))
kiritimati_primary_roads <- readOGR(system.file("vectors",
 package = "rgdal")[1], "kiritimati_primary_roads")
kiritimati_primary_roads_ll <- spTransform(kiritimati_primary_roads,
 CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84"))
opar <- par(mfrow=c(1,2))
plot(kiritimati_primary_roads, axes=TRUE)
plot(kiritimati_primary_roads_ll, axes=TRUE, las=1)
par(opar)
opar <- par(mfrow=c(1,2))
scot_BNG <- readOGR(system.file("vectors", package = "rgdal")[1],
   "scot_BNG")
scot_LL <- spTransform(scot_BNG, CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84"))
plot(scot_LL, axes=TRUE)
grd_LL <- gridlines(scot_LL, ndiscr=100)
summary(grd_LL)
grd_BNG <- spTransform(grd_LL, CRS(proj4string(scot_BNG)))
grdtxt_LL <- gridat(scot_LL)
grdtxt_BNG <- spTransform(grdtxt_LL, CRS(proj4string(scot_BNG)))
plot(scot_BNG, axes=TRUE, las=1)
plot(grd_BNG, add=TRUE, lty=2)
text(coordinates(grdtxt_BNG),
   labels=parse(text=as.character(grdtxt_BNG$labels)))
par(opar)