OPTIONAL EXTRA CREDIT PROBLEM

You have been given a map which references a monument having coordinates North 2403306.986, East 5873350.973, expressed in US Survey Feet. A statement on the map states that the area mapped lies within California Zone 5, NAD 83.

You notice that the above coordinate values conflict with the scale position of the monument and they are substantially different from other Zone 5 coordinates nearby. Could the subject coordinate values be those of a different zone; Zone 6 perhaps? To find out, transfer the above coordinates to GRS80 latitudes and longitudes.

Then compute Zone 5 values from these ellipsoidal coordinates. The National Geodetic Survey (www.ngs.noaa.gov) has tools which greatly simplify calculations of this nature. On this site all coordinate values are expressed in meters. Note that the subject coordinates are expressed in feet. Conversion from US feet to meters is one foot equals 1200/3937 meters. It is suggested that you find the "State Plane Coordinates" link shown on the "Geodetic Tool Kit" item on NGS home page. Once you get there you may be surprised as to how easy these conversions are.

To get credit for this exercise, you must show screen shots or prints of each operation of the interactive routines.