Lab 2: Coordinate Systems

I chose the state of Oregon, mainly because I lived there once upon a time and loved it. It is also where I received my B.S. in Geography at Portland State University. Oregon has added new coordinate systems for the whole state that are broken down into different locations, the Oregon Coordinate Reference System (OCRS). These total 39 and are in addition to the other state coordinate systems, NAD 1983 Oregon Statewide which number 10. Choosing one ideal coordinate system was not necessarily hard but somewhat timely in going through several of them. There is not much difference between them, except the obvious, which is knowing that OCRS Ontario NAD 1983 (on Idaho border) will not work for Oregon Coast NAD 1983. The OCRS will be less appropriate because I am mapping the whole state and not focusing on one specific area.

I chose the NAD 1983 2011 Oregon Statewide Lambert (meters) projection. The other statewide projections I tried did not seem to affect the outcome of the reprojection at all. I chose meters instead of international feet because the USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic projection used for the US states was in meters, keeping things consistent. However, for the scale bar I left the units as miles, converting between is easy enough to do.