[R-sig-Geo] UTM problem

[Werner W.]

Many thanks for your replies Ageel and Sarah!
I still have no clue what to do with the data to make it usable. 
The northings are in the range of 26237 to 38149 which seem to make sense but 
the eastings are in the range of 3252446 to 3264111 and these don't seem to be 
in Uganda.
If I use one of these converters, I even get an error message that this data is 
not within a given range.
http://geographiclib.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/GeoConvert?input=29437+3254314&zone=36&prec=0&option=Submit


It is really weird.


Thanks,
  Werner


----- Ursprüngliche Mail ----
> Von: Sarah Goslee <sarah.goslee at gmail.com>
> An: Werner W. <pensterfuzzer at yahoo.de>
> CC: r-sig-geo at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, den 13. Oktober 2010, 15:24:50 Uhr
> Betreff: Re: [R-sig-Geo] UTM problem
> 
> It looks like Uganda is mostly but not entirely in 36N. It's possible
> the  data switches zones, or that it keeps the same zone throughout
> and uses  northing and/or easting values outside the usual range.
> Plotting the entire  dataset as x, y coordinates would answer that
> question very  quickly.
> 
> Here's some more information:
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA2-Africa-UTM-zones.png
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Transverse_Mercator_coordinate_system
> 
> Sarah
> 
> On  Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Werner W. <pensterfuzzer at yahoo.de>  wrote:
> > Hi Sarah,
> >
> > many thanks for checking this. I looked  at the documentation again and this 
>is
> > the info about the GPS receiver  setting they used:
> > POSITION FRMT: hddd.ddddd
> > MAP DATUM: WGS  84
> > CDI: +-0.25
> > UNITS: METRIC
> > HEADINGS: GRID E000
> >  DEGEES
> >
> >
> > I'm not sure if this is any useful.
> > Any  idea what I should be looking for?
> >
> > The survey actually covers  the whole of Uganda. Can it actually be that the
> > entire country is UTM  zone 36N or does the zone have to change? The docu
> > suggests it is all  36N.
> >
> > Thanks again,
> >   Werner
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Ursprüngliche Mail  ----
> >> Von: Sarah Goslee <sarah.goslee at gmail.com>
> >>  An: Werner W. <pensterfuzzer at yahoo.de>
> >>  CC: r-sig-geo at stat.math.ethz.ch
> >>  Gesendet: Mittwoch, den 13. Oktober 2010, 14:48:50 Uhr
> >> Betreff: Re:  [R-sig-Geo] UTM problem
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I  double-checked your results with an online conversion tool
> >> (http://www.rcn.montana.edu/resources/tools/coordinates.aspx)
> >>  and got the  same answer.
> >>
> >> That means that your R code is  fine, and there's  something
> >> wrong with the original data. If  possible, you should check  with
> >> the source. There could be a  problem with the metadata, or
> >> with the  data  themselves.
> >>
> >> Sarah
> >>
> >> On Wed, Oct  13, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Werner W.  <pensterfuzzer at yahoo.de>  
> wrote:
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> > this questions is  not really about R but it  would be great if somebody
> > could
> >>  > point me to a forum or so where I can  get help with this.
> >>  >
> >> > I only know a few basics about GIS and have  a problem  with some UTM
> >>coordinates
> >> > from a survey.
> >>  > Coordinates  are given as, e.g.
> >> > 3258843      32780
> >> > which are supposedly zone  36N on system WGS84 (according  to the
> >>documentation).
> >> > If I convert it to  long/lat  using gdal:
> >> >> require(rgdal)
> >> >> SP <-   SpatialPoints(cbind(X=3258843, 
> Y=32780),proj4string=CRS("+proj=utm
> >>  >>+zone=36  +ellps=WGS84"))
> >> >> spTransform(SP,  CRS("+proj=longlat +ellps=WGS84")) #  x1=longitude 
>x2=lat
> >> >  SpatialPoints:
> >> >           X         Y
> >> >  [1,]  57.0489 0.2706471
> >> > Coordinate Reference System (CRS) arguments:   +proj=longlat +ellps=WGS84
> >> >
> >> > The point should  be close to Kampala  which has the coordinates  0.3°,
> >>32.633333°
> >> > and UTM 36N 459199 33160 on  WGS84.  My data's easting seems quite off.
> >> >
> >> > Has anybody  an idea  what I am doing wrongly?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks so  much,
> >> >   Werner
> >> >
> >> >
> 
> -- 
> Sarah Goslee
> http://www.functionaldiversity.org
>