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I am working with data that was exported out of Milsoft. When read into FME these layers show up in central Africa. I used the CsmapReprojector to set the coordinate system to MI83-SIF. I have had success with this method before, but the layers are showing up off the coast of California now. Is there a different routine I should be running these layers through to get them in the right place (central Michigan)?

Hi @wlangejans​,

The key is to determine what coordinate system the data from Milsoft is in. If there is no coordinate system on the data that FME can read, the Background maps in FME will assume that it is in lat/long. If the data ends up in central Africa, then the coordinate values are quite low, and are likely to be in a local coordinate system.

What format is the data from Milsoft in, and are there any supporting files that may provide coordinate system or georeferencing information? Even if you only have the lat/long of a reference point in the data, we can LocalCoordinateSystemSetter to create a local coordinate system and reproject the data to MI83-SF.


Hi @wlangejans​,

The key is to determine what coordinate system the data from Milsoft is in. If there is no coordinate system on the data that FME can read, the Background maps in FME will assume that it is in lat/long. If the data ends up in central Africa, then the coordinate values are quite low, and are likely to be in a local coordinate system.

What format is the data from Milsoft in, and are there any supporting files that may provide coordinate system or georeferencing information? Even if you only have the lat/long of a reference point in the data, we can LocalCoordinateSystemSetter to create a local coordinate system and reproject the data to MI83-SF.

Thanks for your response!

The data from Milsoft was exported to shapefiles. An ASCII file was included in the export with x,y coordinates, but no documentation on system or georeferencing.


Hi @wlangejans​,

The key is to determine what coordinate system the data from Milsoft is in. If there is no coordinate system on the data that FME can read, the Background maps in FME will assume that it is in lat/long. If the data ends up in central Africa, then the coordinate values are quite low, and are likely to be in a local coordinate system.

What format is the data from Milsoft in, and are there any supporting files that may provide coordinate system or georeferencing information? Even if you only have the lat/long of a reference point in the data, we can LocalCoordinateSystemSetter to create a local coordinate system and reproject the data to MI83-SF.

Here is a screenshot of an xml I exported from the same layer out of Milsoft.Georeferencing Info


Thanks for your response!

The data from Milsoft was exported to shapefiles. An ASCII file was included in the export with x,y coordinates, but no documentation on system or georeferencing.

May I see a screenshot of the ASCII file?


Thanks for your response!

The data from Milsoft was exported to shapefiles. An ASCII file was included in the export with x,y coordinates, but no documentation on system or georeferencing.

This isn't the entire ASCII, just what I could capture.ASCII Geo


Thanks for your response!

The data from Milsoft was exported to shapefiles. An ASCII file was included in the export with x,y coordinates, but no documentation on system or georeferencing.

There doesn't seem to be any info in the ASCII file that specifies the coordinate system, but I took one of the coordinates and tried viewing it in all the available Michigan coordinate systems. The only one that actually put the data within Michigan was MI27/TM-West. Try using this coordinate system to see if the data is in the right place. If you find an offset in the neighborhood of 300 feet, it may be a NAD27/NAD83 datum issue, and we can look at creating a custom coordinate system for NAD83.


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