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UTM

UTM stands for Universal Transverse Mercator. It is a Transverse Mercator map projection which can be used at any place on the globe. To cover the whole earth, the system is divided into multiple grids, using 60 zones, each covering 6 degrees which is about 800 kilometers in width.

Each zone is defined for both the northern and southern hemisphere. Therefore the zones are called zone 1N - zone 60N for the northern hemisphere and zone 1S - zone 60S for the southern hemisphere.

This document is going to explain, how you can add support for UTM coordinates to your Borland Delphi projects.

UTM Zones

The following table describes which UTM zone should be used on any given location on the earth, and its associated UTM parameters:

Zone	Longitude Range	Hemisphere	False Northing	False Easting	Latitude Origin	Longitude Origin	Scale Factor
1N	180W - 174W	N	0	500000	0	-177	0.9996
1S	180W - 174W	S	10000000	500000	0	-177	0.9996
2N	174W - 168W	N	0	500000	0	-171	0.9996
2S	174W - 168W	S	10000000	500000	0	-171	0.9996
3N	168W - 162W	N	0	500000	0	-165	0.9996
3S	168W - 162W	S	10000000	500000	0	-165	0.9996
4N	162W - 156W	N	0	500000	0	-159	0.9996
4S	162W - 156W	S	10000000	500000	0	-159	0.9996
5N	156W - 150W	N	0	500000	0	-153	0.9996
5S	156W - 150W	S	10000000	500000	0	-153	0.9996
6N	150W - 144W	N	0	500000	0	-147	0.9996
6S	150W - 144W	S	10000000	500000	0	-147	0.9996
7N	144W - 138W	N	0	500000	0	-141	0.9996
7S	144W - 138W	S	10000000	500000	0	-141	0.9996
8N	138W - 132W	N	0	500000	0	-135	0.9996
8S	138W - 132W	S	10000000	500000	0	-135	0.9996
9N	132W - 126W	N	0	500000	0	-129	0.9996
9S	132W - 126W	S	10000000	500000	0	-129	0.9996
10N	126W - 120W	N	0	500000	0	-123	0.9996
10S	126W - 120W	S	10000000	500000	0	-123	0.9996
11N	120W - 114W	N	0	500000	0	-117	0.9996
11S	120W - 114W	S	10000000	500000	0	-117	0.9996
12N	114W - 108W	N	0	500000	0	-111	0.9996
12S	114W - 108W	S	10000000	500000	0	-111	0.9996
13N	108W - 102W	N	0	500000	0	-105	0.9996
13S	108W - 102W	S	10000000	500000	0	-105	0.9996
14N	102W - 096W	N	0	500000	0	-99	0.9996
14S	102W - 096W	S	10000000	500000	0	-99	0.9996
15N	096W - 090W	N	0	500000	0	-93	0.9996
15S	096W - 090W	S	10000000	500000	0	-93	0.9996
16N	090W - 084W	N	0	500000	0	-87	0.9996
16S	090W - 084W	S	10000000	500000	0	-87	0.9996
17N	084W - 078W	N	0	500000	0	-81	0.9996
17S	084W - 078W	S	10000000	500000	0	-81	0.9996
18N	078W - 072W	N	0	500000	0	-75	0.9996
18S	078W - 072W	S	10000000	500000	0	-75	0.9996
19N	072W - 066W	N	0	500000	0	-69	0.9996
19S	072W - 066W	S	10000000	500000	0	-69	0.9996
20N	066W - 060W	N	0	500000	0	-63	0.9996
20S	066W - 060W	S	10000000	500000	0	-63	0.9996
21N	060W - 054W	N	0	500000	0	-57	0.9996
21S	060W - 054W	S	10000000	500000	0	-57	0.9996
22N	504W - 048W	N	0	500000	0	-51	0.9996
22S	054W - 048W	S	10000000	500000	0	-51	0.9996
23N	048W - 042W	N	0	500000	0	-45	0.9996
23S	048W - 042W	S	10000000	500000	0	-45	0.9996
24N	042W - 036W	N	0	500000	0	-39	0.9996
24S	042W - 036W	S	10000000	500000	0	-39	0.9996
25N	036W - 030W	N	0	500000	0	-33	0.9996
25S	036W - 030W	S	10000000	500000	0	-33	0.9996
26N	030W - 024W	N	0	500000	0	-27	0.9996
26S	030W - 024W	S	10000000	500000	0	-27	0.9996
27N	024W - 018W	N	0	500000	0	-21	0.9996
27S	024W - 018W	S	10000000	500000	0	-21	0.9996
28N	018W - 012W	N	0	500000	0	-15	0.9996
28S	018W - 012W	S	10000000	500000	0	-15	0.9996
29N	012W - 006W	N	0	500000	0	-9	0.9996
29S	012W - 006W	S	10000000	500000	0	-9	0.9996
30N	006W - 000W	N	0	500000	0	-3	0.9996
30S	006W - 000W	S	10000000	500000	0	-3	0.9996
31N	000E - 006E	N	0	500000	0	3	0.9996
31S	000E - 006E	S	10000000	500000	0	3	0.9996
32N	006E - 012E	N	0	500000	0	9	0.9996
32S	006E - 012E	S	10000000	500000	0	9	0.9996
33N	012E - 018E	N	0	500000	0	15	0.9996
33S	012E - 018E	S	10000000	500000	0	15	0.9996
34N	018E - 024E	N	0	500000	0	21	0.9996
34S	018E - 024E	S	10000000	500000	0	21	0.9996
35N	024E - 030E	N	0	500000	0	27	0.9996
35S	024E - 030E	S	10000000	500000	0	27	0.9996
36N	030E - 036E	N	0	500000	0	33	0.9996
36S	030E - 036E	S	10000000	500000	0	33	0.9996
37N	036E - 042E	N	0	500000	0	39	0.9996
37S	036E - 042E	S	10000000	500000	0	39	0.9996
38N	042E - 048E	N	0	500000	0	45	0.9996
38S	042E - 048E	S	10000000	500000	0	45	0.9996
39N	048E - 054E	N	0	500000	0	51	0.9996
39S	048E - 054E	S	10000000	500000	0	51	0.9996
40N	054E - 060E	N	0	500000	0	57	0.9996
40S	054E - 060E	S	10000000	500000	0	57	0.9996
41N	060E - 066E	N	0	500000	0	63	0.9996
41S	060E - 066E	S	10000000	500000	0	63	0.9996
42N	066E - 072E	N	0	500000	0	69	0.9996
42S	066E - 072E	S	10000000	500000	0	69	0.9996
43N	072E - 078E	N	0	500000	0	75	0.9996
43S	072E - 078E	S	10000000	500000	0	75	0.9996
44N	078E - 084E	N	0	500000	0	81	0.9996
44S	078E - 084E	S	10000000	500000	0	81	0.9996
45N	084E - 090E	N	0	500000	0	87	0.9996
45S	084E - 090E	S	10000000	500000	0	87	0.9996
46N	090E - 096E	N	0	500000	0	93	0.9996
46S	090E - 096E	S	10000000	500000	0	93	0.9996
47N	096E - 102E	N	0	500000	0	99	0.9996
47S	096E - 102E	S	10000000	500000	0	99	0.9996
48N	102E - 108E	N	0	500000	0	105	0.9996
48S	102E - 108E	S	10000000	500000	0	105	0.9996
49N	108E - 114E	N	0	500000	0	111	0.9996
49S	108E - 114E	S	10000000	500000	0	111	0.9996
50N	114E - 120E	N	0	500000	0	117	0.9996
50S	114E - 120E	S	10000000	500000	0	117	0.9996
51N	120E - 126E	N	0	500000	0	123	0.9996
51S	120E - 126E	S	10000000	500000	0	123	0.9996
52N	126E - 132E	N	0	500000	0	129	0.9996
52S	126E - 132E	S	10000000	500000	0	129	0.9996
53N	132E - 138E	N	0	500000	0	135	0.9996
53S	132E - 138E	S	10000000	500000	0	135	0.9996
54N	138E - 144E	N	0	500000	0	141	0.9996
54S	138E - 144E	S	10000000	500000	0	141	0.9996
55N	144E - 150E	N	0	500000	0	147	0.9996
55S	144E - 150E	S	10000000	500000	0	147	0.9996
56N	150E - 156E	N	0	500000	0	153	0.9996
56S	150E - 156E	S	10000000	500000	0	153	0.9996
57N	156E - 162E	N	0	500000	0	159	0.9996
57S	156E - 162E	S	10000000	500000	0	159	0.9996
58N	162E - 168E	N	0	500000	0	165	0.9996
58S	162E - 168E	S	10000000	500000	0	165	0.9996
59N	168E - 174E	N	0	500000	0	171	0.9996
59S	168E - 174E	S	10000000	500000	0	171	0.9996
60N	174E - 180E	N	0	500000	0	177	0.9996
60S	174E - 180E	S	10000000	500000	0	177	0.9996

The Eye4Software GPS Toolkit

The Eye4Software GPS toolkit is a GPS SDK (Software Developers Kit) which allows software developers to add GPS functionality to their own programs without the need to have any knowledge on serial communications and GPS protocols like RS-232 and NMEA0183.

The product can be used in many programming environments, such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET, Borland C++ Builder, Borland Delphi and VBA, but also web oriented applications such as ASP, ASP.NET and PHP, and all other programming environments that support ActiveX controls.

Prerequisites

First you must have Borland Delphi and the Eye4Software GPS Component installed on your computer. We will use Borland Delphi 7.0 in this document, but other versions from 6.0 and up can be used. You can download the Eye4Software GPS Component here.

Creating the project

For this demo, a console application is used. To create a simple console application project in Delphi, follow the next steps: Select the "Other..." option from the "File" => "New" Menu and select the "Console Application" option, and click "OK".

Declare and create the object(s)

To use ActiveX controls in a Delphi Console Application project, you first have to specify some units to add ActiveX support. Modify the "uses" block at the top of the code like this:

uses SysUtils, OleServer, ComObj, ActiveX;

Declare the objects like this:

var
  objGpsProjection    : Variant;
  objGpsDatum         : Variant;

Before the program is able to load OLE objects, we have to initialize OLE/COM, otherwise an exception is thrown when we try to execute the program:

  OleInitialize ( nill );

It is now time to create the objects:

  objGpsProjection  := CreateOleObject ( 'Eye4Software.GpsProjection' );
  objGpsDatum       := CreateOleObject ( 'Eye4Software.GpsDatumParameters' );

The UTM conversion code

The source code below demonstrates how to add latitude / longitude to UTM transformation functionality to your program using the GPS Toolkit. In this example a position is transformed from WGS84 to UTM ED50. Using the 'ToUTM' function, the software will automatically calculate the UTM zone for the given position. To perform a inverse calculation use the 'FromUTM' function.

program UTM;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  SysUtils, OleServer, ComObj, ActiveX;

{Declare the GPS Toolkit objects}

var
  objGpsProjection    : Variant;
  objGpsDatumSrc      : Variant;
  objGpsDatumDst      : Variant;
  objGpsGridSrc       : Variant;
  objGpsGridDst       : Variant;
  objGpsConstants     : Variant;

begin

  { Initialize ActiveX }
  OleInitialize ( nil  );

  { Create the ActiveX Objects }
  objGpsProjection  := CreateOleObject ( 'Eye4Software.GpsProjection' );
  objGpsDatum       := CreateOleObject ( 'Eye4Software.GpsDatumParameters' );
 
  { Set Source Datum }
  objGpsDatum.LoadFromID ( 4230 );
  
  { Set Source Latitude and Longitude }
  objGpsProjection.Latitude     := 42.00;
  objGpsProjection.Longitude    :=  3.00;

  { Display the result }
  WriteLn ( 'Latitude  (WGS84) : ' + FloatToStr ( objGpsProjection.Latitude  ) );
  WriteLn ( 'Longitude (WGS84) : ' + FloatToStr ( objGpsProjection.Longitude ) );

  { Transform }
  objGpsProjection.ToUTM ( objGpsDatum );

  WriteLn ( 'Northing  (UTM ED50) : ' + FloatToStr ( objGpsProjection.Northing ) );
  WriteLn ( 'Easting   (UTM ED50) : ' + FloatToStr ( objGpsProjection.Easting  ) );

end.