Well-known text

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well-known text (WKT) is an XML-like format for defining the reference and projection of spatial objects on a map. It describes the datum, geoid, and coordinate system of the spatial objects. It is regulated by the Open Geospatial Consortium.

Well-known text is used extensively throughout many GIS programs. ESRI uses WKT in their *.prj extension files. It is also known as proj4string.

[edit] Example

COMPD_CS["OSGB36 / British National Grid + ODN",
    PROJCS["OSGB 1936 / British National Grid",
        GEOGCS["OSGB 1936",
            DATUM["OSGB_1936",
                SPHEROID["Airy 1830",6377563.396,299.3249646,AUTHORITY["EPSG","7001"]],
                TOWGS84[375,-111,431,0,0,0,0],
                AUTHORITY["EPSG","6277"]],
            PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],
            UNIT["DMSH",0.0174532925199433,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9108"]],
            AXIS["Lat",NORTH],
            AXIS["Long",EAST],
            AUTHORITY["EPSG","4277"]],
        PROJECTION["Transverse_Mercator"],
        PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",49],
        PARAMETER["central_meridian",-2],
        PARAMETER["scale_factor",0.999601272],
        PARAMETER["false_easting",400000],
        PARAMETER["false_northing",-100000],
        UNIT["metre",1,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9001"]],
        AXIS["E",EAST],
        AXIS["N",NORTH],
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","27700"]],
    VERT_CS["Newlyn",
        VERT_DATUM["Ordnance Datum Newlyn",2005,AUTHORITY["EPSG","5101"]],
        UNIT["metre",1,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9001"]],
        AXIS["Up",UP],
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","5701"]],
    AUTHORITY["EPSG","7405"]]