Coordinates and the systems to which they reference can be either a very complex, or a very simple thing depending upon how you look at them. The fact that such possibly complex concepts can be simplified is a blessing and probably very welcomed by many. You’d be surprised by how many people we encounter working within the geospatial industry that have little understanding of coordinate systems. In some cases, this is quite understandable, as it can have a negligible effect on the task at hand, but in others it can be quite disastrous for all involved. With the GeoCue workflow management software, we have built in quite a robust system for assisting users with the projections, datum, epoch, and even local ground transformations that one may encounter while processing data. On the other hand, processing software, such as LP360 and the Terrasolid suite of products, generally try to keep things simplified as much as possible. For instance, TerraScan for the most part doesn’t really concern itself with what coordinate system the coordinate for a laser point belongs. It simply assumes, unless you specify differently, that all the data you are working with is within the same coordinate space. In this article, we’ll tackle the simpler side of the spectrum to get you started, and save some of the more complex concepts for a future article.
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