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Question

Geographic orientation

  • April 28, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 106 views

aymeric17
Contributor
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Hello,

 

In FME Form, I am trying to generate a line from 3 parameters: 

  • lon/lat (WGS 84)
  • length
  • geographic orientation (from geographic north, in degrees)

I have tried several ways to build this line (2DDirectionExtender, VertexCreator + Offsetter (tested polar coordinates or spherical coordinates), VertexCreator + Rotator)

Always the same result, when I measure the angle from geographic north, there is a difference for instance, with my input:

  • lon/lat : -4.49027778, 48.02000000
  • length : 0.002
  • orientation : 100.478°

In both methods, FME gives me this result:

When I calculate the bearing from start point to generated end point, it gives me the same result 105.411° (same with online bearing calculators using coords)

Any idea on what could be wrong?

 

Thank you

4 replies

hkingsbury
Celebrity
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  • Celebrity
  • April 28, 2026

I suspect this is probably a coordinate system issue…. ​@redgeographics My mind first jumped to you for a solution


redgeographics
VIP
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Most likely coordinate system, yes. But I didn't pay close enough attention in geodesy classes 😅 (and I'm on a little holiday at the moment).

 

I would also like to point out that since you specify the length in WGS84 degrees and the length of a degree differs based on your position on earth and the direction you're measuring in, your method may introduce errors (can't get my head around those at the moment)


aymeric17
Contributor
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  • Author
  • Contributor
  • June 2, 2026

Thank you for your help.

I used the length in WGS84 degrees to simplify the use case for the test. The exact length isn’t important at this stage since I reproject to a local projection when I need accurate measurements 😊 The length is therefore correct — only the rotation is incorrect.

I’m still stuck on this issue. Any other idea? 


crystalwang
Safer
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Hi ​@aymeric17,

Thank you for posting your question on the FME Community!

Although I am a bit rusty with coordinate systems, would it make a difference if you reprojected to a projected coordinate system (eg. EPSG:32630) before building the line? Then after, reprojecting to a geographic coordinate system such as WGS84 if needed.