[GIS] Proper projected coordinate system for Minnesota for measuring areas

arcgis-desktopcoordinate systemunited-states

I have seen in ArcGIS many different State Plane systems for Minnesota (location coordinates in WGS84: 44,07 lat/-94,61 long) within the Projected Coordinate system group:

  • NAD 1983 (CORS 96) (Meters)
  • NAD 1983 (CORS 96) (US Feet)
  • NAD 1983 (CORS 96) (Intl Feet)
  • NAD 1983 (Meters)
  • NAD 1983 (US Feet)
  • NAD 1983 (Intl Feet)
  • NAD 1983 HARN (Meters)
  • NAD 1983 HARN (US Feet)
  • NAD 1983 NSRS2007 (Meters)
  • NAD 1983 NSRS2007 (US Feet)

Which is the best choice for low area distortion?

Is that choice better than the UTM 15 N projection, for that purpose?

Best Answer

These are all for the State Plane zones which are conformal (maintain shape, not area) like UTM. They should be slightly better because they're defined for a small area than a UTM zone is.

Even better, but still conformal, would be the county-level Minnesota coordinate reference systems.

Instead using an equal area projection like Albers and customizing it for your area of interest would be a better solution.

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