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The State Plane Coordinate System

The State Plane Coordinate System (SPS or SPCS) is a set of 124 geographic zones or coordinate systems designed for specific regions of the United States. Each state contains one or more state plane zones, the boundaries of which usually follow county lines. There are 110 zones in the continental US, with 10 more in Alaska, 5 in Hawaii, and one for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. The system is widely used for geographic data by state and local governments. Its popularity is due to at least two factors. First, it uses a simple Cartesian coordinate system to specify locations rather than a more complex spherical coordinate system (the geographic coordinate system of latitude and longitude). By thus ignoring the curvature of the Earth, "plane surveying" methods can be used, speeding up and simplifying calculations. Second, the system is highly accurate within each zone (error less than 1:10,000). Outside a specific state plane zone accuracy rapidly declines, thus the system is not useful for regional or national mapping.

Most state plane zones are based on either a Transverse Mercator projection or a Lambert conformal conic projection. The choice between the two map projections is based on the shape of the state and its zones. States that are long in the east-west direction are typically divided into zones that are also long east-west. These zones use the Lambert conformal conic projection, because it is good at maintaining accuracy along an east-west axis. Zones that are long in the north-south direction use the Transverse Mercator projection because it is better at maintaining accuracy along a north-south axis. The panhandle of Alaska, whose maximum dimension is on a diagonal, uses an Oblique Mercator projection, which minimizes the combined error in the X and Y directions.


All State Plane zones in Arkansas

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County or City SPCS27 Code SPCS83 Code
Arkansas 10302 302
Ashley 10302 302
Baxter 10301 301
Benton 10301 301
Boone 10301 301
Bradley 10302 302
Calhoun 10302 302
Carroll 10301 301
Chicot 10302 302
Clark 10302 302
Clay 10301 301
Cleburne 10301 301
Cleveland 10302 302
Columbia 10302 302
Conway 10301 301
Craighead 10301 301
Crawford 10301 301
Crittenden 10301 301
Cross 10301 301
Dallas 10302 302
Desha 10302 302
Drew 10302 302
Faulkner 10301 301
Franklin 10301 301
Fulton 10301 301
Garland 10302 302
Grant 10302 302
Greene 10301 301
Hempstead 10302 302
Hot Spring 10302 302
Howard 10302 302
Independence 10301 301
Izard 10301 301
Jackson 10301 301
Jefferson 10302 302
Johnson 10301 301
Lafayette 10302 302
Lawrence 10301 301
Lee 10302 302
Lincoln 10302 302
Little River 10302 302
Logan 10301 301
Lonoke 10302 302
Madison 10301 301
Marion 10301 301
Miller 10302 302
Mississippi 10301 301
Monroe 10302 302
Montgomery 10302 302
Nevada 10302 302
Newton 10301 301
Ouachita 10302 302
Perry 10301 301
Phillips 10302 302
Pike 10302 302
Poinsett 10301 301
Polk 10302 302
Pope 10301 301
Prairie 10302 302
Pulaski 10301 301
Randolph 10301 301
St. Francis 10301 301
Saline 10302 302
Scott 10301 301
Searcy 10301 301
Sebastian 10301 301
Sevier 10302 302
Sharp 10301 301
Stone 10301 301
Union 10302 302
Van Buren 10301 301
Washington 10301 301
White 10301 301
Woodruff 10301 301
Yell 10301 301

Click here to go back to the list off all State Plane grids