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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 West Virginia

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County or City SPCS27 Code SPCS83 Code
Barbour 14701 4701
Berkeley 14701 4701
Boone 14702 4702
Braxton 14702 4702
Brooke 14701 4701
Cabell 14702 4702
Calhoun 14702 4702
Clay 14702 4702
Doddridge 14701 4701
Fayette 14702 4702
Gilmer 14702 4702
Grant 14701 4701
Greenbrier 14702 4702
Hampshire 14701 4701
Hancock 14701 4701
Hardy 14701 4701
Harrison 14701 4701
Jackson 14702 4702
Jefferson 14701 4701
Kanawha 14702 4702
Lewis 14702 4702
Lincoln 14702 4702
Logan 14702 4702
McDowell 14702 4702
Marion 14701 4701
Marshall 14701 4701
Mason 14702 4702
Mercer 14702 4702
Mineral 14701 4701
Mingo 14702 4702
Monongalia 14701 4701
Monroe 14702 4702
Morgan 14701 4701
Nicholas 14702 4702
Ohio 14701 4701
Pendleton 14702 4702
Pleasants 14701 4701
Pocahontas 14702 4702
Preston 14701 4701
Putnam 14702 4702
Raleigh 14702 4702
Randolph 14702 4702
Ritchie 14701 4701
Roane 14702 4702
Summers 14702 4702
Taylor 14701 4701
Tucker 14701 4701
Tyler 14701 4701
Upshur 14702 4702
Wayne 14702 4702
Webster 14702 4702
Wetzel 14701 4701
Wirt 14701 4701
Wood 14701 4701
Wyoming 14702 4702

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