Geographic coordinate system: Difference between revisions

A '''geographic coordinate system''' ('''GCS''') is a [[spherical coordinate system|spherical]] or [[geodetic coordinates|geodetic coordinate]] system for measuring and communicating [[position (geometry)|positions]] directly on [[Earth]] as latitude and [[longitude]].<ref name="chang2016">{{cite book |last1=Chang |first1=Kang-tsung |title=Introduction to Geographic Information Systems |date=2016 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-1-259-92964-9 |page=24 |edition=9th}}</ref> It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various [[spatial reference systems]] that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate [[tuple]] like a [[cartesian coordinate system]], the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.<ref name="DiBiase">{{cite web |last=DiBiase |first=David |title=The Nature of Geographic Information |url=https://www.e-education.psu.edu/natureofgeoinfo/c2_p10.html |access-date=18 February 2024 |archive-date=19 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219075125/https://www.e-education.psu.edu/natureofgeoinfo/c2_p10.html |url-status=live }}</ref>