Editing Geographic coordinate conversion (section)

{{short description|Overview of GPS conversion formulas}}
In [[geodesy]], conversion among different geographic coordinate systems is made necessary by the different [[geographic coordinate system]]s in use across the world and over time. Coordinate conversion is composed of a number of different types of conversion: format change of geographic coordinates, conversion of coordinate systems, or transformation to different [[geodetic datum]]s. Geographic coordinate conversion has applications in [[cartography]], [[surveying]], [[navigation]] and [[geographic information systems]].

In geodesy, geographic coordinate ''conversion'' is defined as translation among different coordinate formats or [[map projection]]s all referenced to the same geodetic datum.<ref name=Foster2009>{{cite web|author1=Roger Foster|author2=Dan Mullaney|title=Basic Geodesy Article 018: Conversions and Transformations|publisher=National Geospatial Intelligence Agency|url=http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/geoarticles/pdfs/Article018_Conversions_and_Transformations.pdf|access-date=4 March 2014|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127145627/https://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/geoarticles/pdfs/Article018_Conversions_and_Transformations.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A geographic coordinate ''transformation'' is a translation among different geodetic datums. Both geographic coordinate conversion and transformation will be considered in this article.

This article assumes readers are already familiar with the content in the articles [[geographic coordinate system]] and [[geodetic datum]].