A Guide to Australian Coordinate systems in MicroSurvey Products

With some Australian mountpoints, the datum used may be in GDA 94 or GDA 2020. Depending on the datum it uses, the correct coordinate system should be selected in the MicroSurvey products. All the systems mentioned in this article are found in the "Australia/NZ Systems" group when you select a system for your drawing, project or STAR*NET adjustment.

Some of the systems have specific applications in mind. For example, a system may be created with the assumption that you have constrained your survey to a particular datum (sometimes a historical one.) Some systems are configured to apply a grid based (GSB) datum shift to your measured or computed values in order to transform positions between GDA 2020 and GDA 94 datums.

 

MGA2020 Systems

System	Projection	Input / Mountpoint Datum:	Output Datum:	Datum Shift (if any)
MGA2020-47	UTM Zone 47	GDA 2020	GDA 2020
MGA2020-(...)	UTM Zone (...)	GDA 2020	GDA 2020
MGA2020-58	UTM Zone 58	GDA 2020	GDA 2020

 

MGA94(GDA2020/7P) Systems

System	Projection	Input / Mountpoint Datum:	Output Datum:	Datum Shift (if any)
MGA94(GDA2020/7P)-47	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	7 Parameter Shift
MGA94(GDA2020/7P)-(...)	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	7 Parameter Shift
MGA94(GDA2020/7P)-58	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	7 Parameter Shift

 

MGA94(GDA2020/GSB/Conf&Dist) Systems

System	Projection	Input / Mountpoint Datum:	Output Datum:	Datum Shift (if any)
MGA94(GDA2020/GSB/Conf&Dist)-47	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	\mapping\GDA94_GDA2020_conformal_and_distortion.gsb will shift position to GDA 94 Instructions: Method
MGA94(GDA2020/GSB/Conf&Dist)-(...)	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	\mapping\GDA94_GDA2020_conformal_and_distortion.gsb will shift position to GDA 94 Instructions: Method
MGA94(GDA2020/GSB/Conf&Dist)-58	Transverse Mercator	GDA 2020	GDA 94	\mapping\GDA94_GDA2020_conformal_and_distortion.gsb will shift position to GDA 94 Instructions: Method

 

MGA94 Systems

System	Projection	Input / Mountpoint Datum:	Output Datum:	Datum Shift (if any)
MGA94-47	Transverse Mercator	GDA 94	GDA 94
MGA94-(...)	Transverse Mercator	GDA 94	GDA 94
MGA94-58	Transverse Mercator	GDA 94	GDA 94

 

Instructions for Implementing Gridshifts Files:

Gridshifts for these coordinate systems (when required) use files with the extension *.gsb, they cannot be installed with your MicroSurvey software.  These files can be updated at times, and it is best practise to use the newest available gridshift for your region.  MicroSurvey Mapping files must be modified so that gridshift files will be applied:

Method: Copy *.GSB into Mapping folder

1. Download the Australia GridShift file from our website
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded (.zip) file
3. Copy the *.GSB file to the mapping folder for your product

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Mapping folder locations:

The list below guides you to where to find the mapping folder for all MicroSurvey Products:

MicroSurvey CAD

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\MSCAD\20XX\mscad\Mapping

embeddedCAD

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\embeddedCAD 20XX\mscad\Mapping

inCAD

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\inCAD\20XX\mscad\Mapping

STAR*NET

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\StarNet\VXX\Mapping

FieldGenius for Windows:

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\FieldGenius\XX\Mapping

FieldGenius for Android:

<Internal Storage> FieldGenius\Mapping

**NOTE that most gridshifts are implemented automatically in FieldGenius for Android.  Gridshifts and required support files are downloaded from the Gridshift Catalog.

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You can test your results by:

MSCAD, embeddedCAD and inCAD:

Open a new drawing and assign the distance units you normally use for testing or work

Open "Manual Coordinate Conversions" in the Geodetic group of the MsPoints menu and convert a known point between:

Latitude/Longitude - LL84 (same as WGS84)

...and the coordinate system you are testing

FieldGenius Windows or Android:

Create a new project and assign the distance units you normally use for testing or work

Open Coordinate Calculator in the Calculations section of the software and convert a known point between:

Latitude/Longitude - LL84 (same as WGS84)

and the coordinate system you are testing

STAR*NET:

Create a new project and assign the distance units you normally use for testing or work

Assign the coordinate system you need to test as a Grid system

Select the "Select Ellipsoid to use" option WGS84 (this will cause the gridshift to be applied)

Enter a known WGS84 lat/long in the format:

P PTID DD.MMSSss DD.MMSSss ellipsoidelev !!!

Adjust

A warning will alert you there are no observation, this can be disregarded

View the Coordinates output panel and compare it against known values