Category: Geospatial data

WGS84

WGS84 is a global geographic coordinate system commonly used for latitude and longitude.

Also known as: EPSG:4326, lat/lon

Expanded definition

WGS84 is a datum and coordinate system used by GPS and many web mapping tools. In WGS84 geographic coordinates, positions are expressed as latitude and longitude in degrees.

WGS84 is convenient for storage and interchange, but degrees are not uniform distance units. That matters for area, distance, and buffering operations.

For measurement and analytics, many workflows reproject data into a local projected CRS (for example UTM) so calculations behave sensibly in meters.

Related terms

CRS (Coordinate Reference System)

A CRS defines how coordinates map to locations on Earth, including the projection and datum.

EPSG Code

An EPSG code is a numeric identifier for a CRS, such as EPSG:4326 for WGS84 latitude/longitude.

UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator)

UTM is a projected coordinate system that divides Earth into zones, allowing measurements in meters.