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Data

LOJIC Coordinate System/Projection Information

All GIS layers provided by LOJIC are positioned horizontally (x,y) using the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, as defined and adopted by the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS 1:020), and vertically (z) using the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).

Kentucky State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS)
North Zone -- FIPS Code 1601

Projection Scheme: 
Lambert Conformal Conic map projection with double standard parallels 
  
Datum and Ellipsoid 
North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) 
Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS80) Ellipsoid 
  
Linear units of measure: 
United States Survey Foot as defined by: 
One US Foot equals 1200 / 3937  meter (0.304800610 US Foot), or 
One meter equals 3937 / 1200 US Foot (3.280833333 US Foot)

North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).
The Map units are in U.S. Feet.

Notes:  The State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS) is not a projection; rather it is a system for specifying positions of geodetic stations using plane rectangular coordinates. This coordinate system that divides all fifty states of the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands into over 120 numbered sections, referred to as zones. Each zone has an assigned code number that defines the projection parameters for the region.  The Datum Zone (Kentucky 3976) numbers were originally defined by the Bureau of Land Management for the NAD27 State Plane Coordinate System. They do not support new SPCS zones (Kentucky North Zone 1601) that were defined for NAD83. The FIPSZONE keyword uses the current, official Federal Information Processing Standard zone values.

For LOJIC regional GIS data in Kentucky; Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt, Shelby, Spencer and Henry counties fall within the Kentucky SPCS North Zone.  Meade, Hardin and Nelson counties fall within the South Zone (FIPS Code 1602), but any LOJIC representation of data in these areas use the KY SPCS North Zone. For LOJIC regional GIS data in Indiana; Harrison, Floyd and Clark counties fall within the Indiana SPCS East Zone (FIPS Code 1301), but any LOJIC representation of data in these areas use the KY SPCS North Zone.

There are three possible projections for SPCS. The geometric direction of each state determines the projection utilized. For states that are longer in the east-west direction, the Lambert Conformal Conic is used (Kentucky included). States which are longer in the north-south direction use the Transverse Mercator Projection (Indiana included). The panhandle of Alaska, which the sole distinction of lying at an angle, garners the use of the Oblique Mercator Projection.

The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) is the vertical control datum established in 1991 by the minimum-constraint adjustment of the Canadian-Mexican-U.S. leveling observations. It held fixed the height of the primary tidal bench mark, referenced to the new International Great Lakes Datum of 1985 local mean sea level height value, at Father Point/Rimouski, Quebec, Canada. Additional tidal bench mark elevations were not used due to the demonstrated variations in sea surface topography, i.e., the fact that mean sea level is not the same equipotential surface at all tidal bench marks. ("Results of the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988, "Surveying and Land Information Systems Vol. 52, No. 3, 1992 pp. 133-149)

Brief History

The Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, as defined and adopted by KRS 1:020, was originally developed by the National Geodetic Survey (formerly the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey) back in the 1930’s as part of a national effort to provide land surveyors and engineers with a means of representing projects in a common coordinate system that covered very large areas of interest.  Under this system, Kentucky is divided into the North and South Zones. 
  
The state plane coordinate system in Kentucky was originally defined on the North American Datum of 1927 utilizing the Clarke Ellipsoid of 1866 with the United States Survey Foot (US Foot) being the linear unit of measure, however, in 1986 the NGS adopted the North American Datum of 1983, which is based on the Geodetic Reference System of 1980 ellipsoid, with the meter being adopted as the standard unit of linear measure. 
  
In the process of transitioning from NAD27 to NAD83, the NGS revised the parameters defining the origin of the North and South zones so that obvious and discernibly different coordinates for the same position would result between the two datums.  This strategy was adopted so that it would be possible to recognize the basis of datum (NAD27 or NAD83) for a given set of coordinates when no other information is given in addition to the coordinate values.

Kentucky Revised Statutes  1:020

Title I – Sovereignty and Jurisdiction of the Commonwealth
Chapter 1- Boundaries
.020 Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983

1.020 Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983.

  1. The Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, which is hereby adopted, means a system of plane coordinates which have been established by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey for defining and stating the geographic positions or locations of points on the surface of the earth within the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
  2. For this system, the Commonwealth shall be divided into a north zone and a south zone. The north zone shall be a Lambert conformal conic projection of the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes 37 degrees, 58 minutes, and 38 degrees, 58 minutes along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates shall be at the intersection of the meridian 84 degrees, 15 minutes west of Greenwich, and the parallel 37 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. This origin shall be given the coordinates: N=0, E=500,000.000 meters. The south zone shall be a Lambert conformal conic projection of the North American Datum of 1983, having standard parallels at north latitudes 36 degrees, 44 minutes, and 37 degrees, 56 minutes along which parallels the scale shall be exact. The origin of coordinates shall be at the intersection of the meridian 85 degrees, 45 minutes west of Greenwich, and the parallel 36 degrees, 20 minutes north latitude. This origin shall be given the coordinates: N=500,000.000, E=500,000.000 meters. The southern edge of the following counties shall delineate the boundary between the north zone and the south zone: Bullitt, Spencer, Anderson, Woodford, Jessamine, Fayette, Clark, Montgomery, Menifee, Morgan, and Lawrence.
  3. One U. S. survey foot equals (1200)/(3937) meter. For conversion of meters to U. S. survey feet, multiply the meters by 3.28083333333 to twelve (12) significant figures. When converting from meters to feet, the conversion factor defined by the U. S. survey foot shall be used.
  4. The plane coordinate values for a point on the earth's surface, used to express the geographic position or location of the point in the appropriate zone of this system, shall consist of two (2) distances expressed in U. S. survey feet and decimals of a foot when using the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983. For the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, one (1) of the distances, to be known as the "northing" or "N", shall give the position in a north/south direction. The other, to be known as the "easting" or "E" shall give the position in an east/west direction. These coordinates shall be made to depend upon and conform to plane rectangular coordinates values for the monumented points of the North American National Geodetic Horizontal Network as published by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey, and whose plane coordinates have been computed on the systems established by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey. Any such station may be used for establishing a survey connection to the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983.
  5. For purposes of describing the location of any survey station or land boundary corner in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it shall be considered a complete, legal, and satisfactory description of the location to give the position of the survey station or land boundary corner on the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983.
  6. Nothing contained in this section shall require a purchaser or mortgagee of real property to rely wholly on a land description any part of which depends exclusively upon the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983.
  7. When any tract of land to be defined by a single description extends from one (1) into the other of the two (2) zones, the position of all points on its boundaries may be referred to either of the two (2) zones. The zone which is used shall be named in the description.
  8. No coordinates based on the Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, purporting to define the position of a point on a land boundary, shall be presented to be recorded in any public land records or deed records unless the point has been tied to an existing monumented horizontal control station established in conformity with the standards of accuracy and specifications for first or second order geodetic surveying as prepared and published by the Federal Geodetic Control Committee of the United States Department of Commerce. The survey used to tie a point into these monumented control stations shall conform to the standards and specifications of a minimum of third order accuracies as set forth by the Federal Geodetic Control Committee. Standards and specifications of the Federal Geodetic Control Committee, or its successor, in force on the date of the survey shall apply. Publishing existing control stations, or the acceptance with intent to publish the newly established stations, by the National Ocean Service/National Geodetic Survey shall constitute evidence of adherence to the Federal Geodetic Control Committee specifications. These requirements may be modified by a duly authorized state agency or local agency to meet local conditions.
  9. The use of the terms "KENTUCKY COORDINATE SYSTEM OF 1983 NORTH ZONE" or "KENTUCKY COORDINATE SYSTEM OF 1983 SOUTH ZONE" on any map, report of survey, or other document shall be limited to coordinates based on the Kentucky Coordinate System as defined in this section.
  10. If any provision of this section or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this section are severable.

Effective: July 14, 1992 
History: Created 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 419, sec. 3, effective July 14, 1992.