Docs / Tools & reference / Coordinate reference systems

Coordinate reference systems

Work in the CRS your organization actually uses. SWEREF 99, ETRS89 grids and more are first-class citizens — not everything is forced through Web Mercator.

Pick a projection per map#

Each map has its own projection, chosen in Properties → Map Projection. To keep every offered system fully supported — native vector tiles, native basemaps, accurate exports — new maps can be set to one of six coordinate systems:

  • Web Mercator (3857) — the default, works everywhere.
  • SWEREF99 TM (3006) — Sweden.
  • ETRS89-LAEA Europe (3035).
  • ETRS-TM35FIN (3067) — Finland.
  • ETRS89 / UTM 32N (25832) — Denmark, Germany, Norway.
  • ETRS89 / UTM 33N (25833) — Norway.
Note

Maps already saved in another coordinate system — WGS 84, any of the twelve SWEREF99 local zones, RT90, ETRS89 / Poland CS92 or British National Grid — keep rendering correctly. Those systems just aren’t offered when starting a new map. See the full list below.

Supported coordinate systems#

The complete catalog OrbGIS recognizes. Systems with a native tile grid — the six above — render feature layers and basemaps directly on their own grid, with zero client-side reprojection. Every other system is registered for display only: content already saved in it keeps rendering correctly, reprojected once at tile load.

EPSGNameNative tile gridMatrix source
4326WGS 84 (Geographic)No
3857Web MercatorYesStandard XYZ / web-map scheme — the canonical grid every layer serves
3006SWEREF99 TM (Sweden)YesLantmäteriet WMTS matrix
3007SWEREF99 12 00No
3008SWEREF99 13 30No
3009SWEREF99 15 00No
3010SWEREF99 16 30No
3011SWEREF99 18 00No
3012SWEREF99 14 15No
3013SWEREF99 15 45No
3014SWEREF99 17 15No
3015SWEREF99 18 45No
3016SWEREF99 20 15No
3017SWEREF99 21 45No
3018SWEREF99 23 15No
3021RT90 2.5 gon V (Sweden, legacy)No
3035ETRS89-LAEA EuropeYesGISCO (Eurostat) LAEA matrix
3067ETRS-TM35FIN (Finland)YesFinnish JHS180 matrix (National Land Survey)
2180ETRS89 / Poland CS92No
25832ETRS89 / UTM 32N (DK, DE, NO)YesKartverket UTM32 WMTS matrix
25833ETRS89 / UTM 33N (Norway)YesKartverket UTM33 WMTS matrix
27700OSGB36 / British National GridNo

Native basemaps#

Basemaps render on their own grids where they have them: Lantmäteriet in EPSG:3006, GISCO Europe styles in EPSG:3035, Kartverket in EPSG:25833. The basemap gallery only offers what’s compatible with your map’s CRS — no silently warped rasters.

How feature layers follow#

Feature layers are served as vector tiles in EPSG:3857 by default and reprojected once at tile load for other view CRSes — not on every frame — so non-Mercator maps stay smooth. The reprojection pipeline is tested against PostGIS ground truth to under two pixels of error. When the map’s CRS and the layer’s source CRS are the same one of five allowlisted grids — EPSG:3006, 3035, 3067, 25832, 25833 — tiles are emitted natively in that CRS with zero client reprojection at all.

On upload#

The source CRS is read from the uploaded file and handled automatically — you never pick one. CSV coordinates are interpreted as WGS 84 latitude/longitude, with a sanity check that rejects projected metre values instead of mapping them to the wrong continent. See Uploading data.

Reading coordinates#

The viewer’s bottom bar shows live cursor coordinates in your choice of DD, DMS, UTM or MGRS, alongside a true ground scale (1:N). Print layouts hold true scales like 1:25 000 per map frame.