[GIS] Create a buffer in decimal degrees

Question

I am working with data that are unprojected (they are in lat/lon) and for every point I want to create a buffer of 800 meter. How can I construct a buffer of 800m. but give the distance in decimal degrees? I use ArcMap 10.2.

Answer 1

There are multiple ways to accomplish this, but none of the correct methods involve static conversion of degrees and linear units. In the past I've had to define my own equidistant or equal area coordinate system over each feature, but ArcMap offers a much simpler solution: Use Geoprocessing... Buffer, which invokes Buffer (Analysis), and then specify a linear unit:

Which results in properly buffered shapes: