Very short video tutorial to answer a common question: In ArcGIS, how do I zoom to a particular Lat-Long coordinate from a map projected in US State Plane or UTM or other limited zone grid -- and NOT re-project (re-cast) the map view? This from ArcGIS 9.x but should work substantially similar in more recent ArcGIS versions. ERROR! My Bad! FIPS should be 48 for Texas! 42 is Pennsylvania. Cross wired brain circuits from working in two states! See wiki list page:
KEY QUESTION: Why would ArcGIS map data be "stuck" in State Plane? Why not just "re-project" (re-cast) the map data to a "more reasonable" Lat-Long? A number of reasons:
(1) Lat-Long is NOT A COORDINATE SYSTEM -- unless an elevation relative to some datum (sea level) is reported. Consider, a cave under your house -- an aircraft flying over -- and the moon in it's orbit -- in an instant -- can share the same Lat-Long coordinate. Only with elevation is there unique discrimination.
(2) Most oil & gas plats / deeds / legal descriptions have been litigated (i.e. legally tested in court) using State Plane / NAD27 / US Survey Feet since the 1930s -- a long legal history -- and it is not "fun" explaining datum conversions and units-of-measure changes to regulators, lawyers and juries,
(3) Most 1940s to 1990s USGS topo maps (and DRGs) have a NAD27 State Plane grid in the map edge graticules -- and is a very useful & superior credibility cross check if there be a litigation question.
(4) Property deed descriptions in metes & bounds -- and field surveyors -- often want to "see" US State Plane coordinates -- especially in the Pre-1959 US Survey Foot units of ratio 1200/3937. The post-1959 International Foot differs from US Survey foot by 2 parts per million -- AND CANNOT BE IGNORED IN GIS Mapping with big XY values of State Plane.
(5) There is much digital data available from commercial vendors "hard cast" in State Plane / NAD27 / US Survey Feet. Datum conversion is often a source of subtle but hard to identify errors -- especially with new people lacking Geodesy experience. Often "less dangerous" to allow the data to remain in State Plane -- and only adjust when "talking" to outside systems like Google Earth or OpenStreetMaps. In short, best to not kick a sleeping Lion.
Wiki Page for US Surveyor Feet:
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