Last Update: 3rd October, 2023, V0.19

How to use our tools

About Online GRF-TT transformation tool

Online GRF-TT is the tool for transformation of geodetic coordinates between KSA GRFs (Geodetic Reference Frames). The coordinates could be either geographical or UTM projection coordinates.

Standard Helmert parameters (translation, rotation and scale factor) are used for coordinate transformation from geodetic reference frames ARAMCO (ITRF 1994, epoch 1998.0), GDMS (ITRF2000, epoch 2003.1998), MTRF-2000 (ITRF2000, epoch 2004.0), and WGS84 (defined in EPSG-9383 as ITRF2014 at the epoch 2010.0) to KSA-GRF17 (solution of March 2019). A grid of 3D transformation parameters is used for transformation from ARAMCO Ain Al Abd (1970) reference frame to KSA-GRF17. KSA-GRF17 ellipsoidal heights can be transformed to orthometric heights (referenced to the geoid surface) by using a 1D transformation grid derived from the Hybrid Geoid KSA-GEOID21 model (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)). This model the latest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia national hybrid geoid model, and it is fitted to geoid heights of 3522 GASGI GPS/levelling benchmarks from National Vertical Network..

Online GRF-TT can be used in two modes:

-          Single Point (one point) mode, when before the transformation, the user has to input the values of the following coordinates into the proper data input fields in the GUI, depending on the Source Coordinate Type:

·         Geographical coordinates: (Geodetic Latitude, Longitude) or (Geodetic Latitude, Longitude, Ellipsoidal Height)

·         UTM projection coordinates: (Northing, Easting) or (Northing, Easting, Ellipsoidal Height)

-          MultiPoint mode (multiple points (each point must have its own name for identification) saved into Input (Upload) File) which is using the same Source Coordinate Types as for the Single Point mode except of DMS measurement units.

Online GRF-TT is able to transform data having the values only within the following range values covering the KSA area:

·         latitude: 16.02° – 33.00°

·         longitude: 34.00° – 56.00°

·         ellipsoidal height: -40 meters to 3200 meters

·         Northing:    16605143655285 [m]

·         Easting:           177349  822651 [m].

If the input coordinates are out of these ranges the coordinates of such point will not be transformed and the user will see, in the Single Point mode, corresponding error indicators above the data entry fields and Out of range” error message in the result output window. In the MultiPoint mode, this error message will appear for all such points in the result output file.

More details about use of Online GRF-TT can be found in Online GRF-TT User Manual.pdf

Single Point mode - input the values in the proper fields according the formats of the selected Source Coordinate Type:

·         Geographical coordinates: either in decimal degrees [°] (up to 8 digits after the decimal dot) or in DMS - angular degrees [°], minutes [ʹ], seconds [ʺ] (up to 5 digits after the decimal dot) for the latitude Lat and longitude Lon, and in meters [m] for ellipsoidal height Height (up to 3 digits after the decimal point) by paying attention to the value ranges specified under each input field.

·         UTM projection coordinates: in meters [m] (up to 3 digits after the decimal dot) for all coordinate components by paying attention to the value ranges specified under each input field.

MultiPoint mode   each point’s data takes one separate record line both in the Input (Upload) File and Output (Results) File (ASCII *.txt files), and contains the point id (created of letters, numbers and symbols with no spaces between them), followed by the two or three coordinate values expressed depending on the Source Coordinate Type as either

·         geographical coordinates: in decimal degrees [°] for the latitude Lat and longitude Lon, and in meters [m] for ellipsoidal height Height, or

·         UTM projection coordinates: in meters [m] for all coordinate components

and separated with at least one space in between the values. The range value requirements described for the Single Point mode input data must be applied to the Input File data too.

Input File to upload has 3 or 4 values in each record line depending on the Source Coordinate Type. The range value requirements described for the Single Point mode input data must be applied to the Input File data too. The Input File must have one empty line at the very end of the file.

Examples (the first line is given in the examples just to describe the order and meaning of the values):

id      Lat [°]                Lon [°]

AB01 23.43546534 46.42938473

id      Lat [°]                Lon [°]              Height [m]

AB01 23.43546534  46.42938473   351.655

id         Northing [m]   Easting [m]

AB01   2211793.556   604609.324

Id      Northing [m]  Easting [m]   Height [m]

AB01 2211793.556 604609.324  351.655

Output File to download will be generated by Online GRF-TT. It has 7 or 8 values in each record line depending on the Target Coordinate Type. Each line contains point id, two or three output coordinate values, Convergence, Full Scale Factor, Geodetic and Vertical Position Precision values.

At the top of the file, there is information about Input File name, Source and Target Coordinate Reference Systems, and measurement units.

Examples:

id      Lat [°]               Lon [°]   Convergence [°] FullScale GeodeticPreicison VerticalPrecision

AB01 23.43546534 46.42938473 -0.606006 1.0001945   < 5 cm                    no info

id      Lat [°]               Lon [°]           Height [m] Convergence [°] FullScale GeodeticPreicison VerticalPrecision

AB01 23.43546534 46.42938473 347.483 -0.606006 1.0001945   < 5 cm                    no info

id      Northing [m] Easting [m] Convergence [°] FullScale GeodeticPreicison VerticalPrecision

AB01 2211793.556 604609.324 -0.606006 1.0001945   < 5 cm                    no info

id      Northing [m] Easting [m] Height [m] Convergence [°] FullScale GeodeticPreicison VerticalPrecision

AB01 23.43546534 46.42938473 347.483  -0.606006 1.0001945   < 5 cm                    no info

 

Online VRF-TT  is the tool for transformation of:

·         Orthometric heights defined in the source KSA-SVD78 or KSA-JED69 Vertical Reference Frames (VRF) to orthometric heights expressed in the target KSA-VRF14 – the latest Kingdom of Saudi Arabia VRF (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)).

·         Orthometric heights referenced to the source KSA-GEOID09 or KSA-GEOID17 geoid model surface to the orthometric heights referenced to the geoid surface of the target KSA-GEOID21 model.

KSA-GEOID21 (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)) is the latest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  national hybrid geoid model, and it is fitted to geoid heights of 3522 GASGI GPS/Levelling benchmarks from National Vertical Network.

Online VRF-TT can be used in both Single point (one point) and MultiPoint (multiple points saved in the text file) modes.

Before making the transformation, the user has to input values of the following parameters:

  • Latitude
  • Longitude
  • Orthometric Height.

The input values for Latitude and Longitude must be either in Decimal Degrees (with up to 8 digits after the dot) or in DMS (Degree, Minutes and Seconds with up to 5 digits after the dot in the Seconds value) format. The input value of the Orthometric Height must be in [meters] with up to 3 digits after the dot.

In the Single Point mode, the input values for Latitude and Longitude can be either in Decimal Degrees or in DMS  format, and the output result contains Orthometric Height only in [meters] with up to 4 digits after the dot.

In the Multipoint mode,

the input file has to contain 3 values (separated with at least one space) in each record line for each point:

·         Latitude – the input value [Degrees]

·         Longitude– the input value in [Degrees]

·         Orthometric Height - the input value in [meters] in the source VRF or referenced to the source geoid model surface.

and the output file will contain 4 values (separated with at least one space) in each record line for each point:

·         Latitude – the input value [Degrees]

·         Longitude– the input value in [Degrees] with up to 8 digits after the dot

·         Input Orthometric Height - the input value in [meters] with up to 3 digits (a zero is added in the 4th digit of input value) after the dot

·         Transformed Orthometric Height - the output value after transformation in [meters] with up to 4 digits after the dot.

The Online VRF-TT is able to transform the data having the values only within the following range values covering the KSA area:

·         Latitude: 16°.02 – 33°.00

·         Longitude: 34°.00 – 56°. 00

If the input coordinates are out of these ranges the coordinates of such point will not be transformed and the user will see, in the Single Point mode, corresponding error indicators above the data entry fields and “Out of range” error message in the result output window. In the MultiPoint mode, this error message will appear for all such points in the result output file.

When using Online VRF-TT, the input coordinates (Latitudes, Longitudes) of points must be in KSA-GRF17. But a user could have the coordinates in any of existing Geodetic Reference Frame (GRF) (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)):

1.       ARAMCO Ain-Al-Abd

2.       ARAMCO (ITRF94) (named as well as ARAMCO_WGS84 (ITRF94 at the epoch 1998.0))

3.       GCS/GDMS (ITRF2000 at the epoch 2003.1998)

4.       MTRF2000 (ITRF2000 at the epoch 2004.0)

5.       WGS84 (G1762) (ITRF2008 at the epoch 2005.0)

6.       WGS84 (G2139) (ITRF2014 at the epoch 2016.0)

7.       WGS84 (defined in EPSG-9383 as ITRF2014 at the epoch 2010.0)

8.       KSA-GRF17 (ITRF2014 at the epoch 2017.0)

Usually, ellipsoidal heights are used to calculate orthometric heights if geoid model is available. The the ellipsoidal heights change after transformation of various GRFs to KSA-GRF17. To avoid lower than 1 cm accuracy of ellipsoidal height in KSA-GRF17, it’s compulsory to transform 3D coordinates from the first four GRFs to KSA-GRF17, then use transformed ellipsoidal heights to calculate orthometric heights in one of VRFs, and only then horizontal coordinates in KSA-GRF17 and calculated orthometric heights can be used in Online VRF-TT as input values (see Online VRF-TT User Manual.pdf).

If the input coordinates are referenced to the last four GRFs in the list above, there is no need to transform them to KSA-GRF17. The horizontal coordinates might be at a few meters level to provide 1 mm grid interpolation accuracy.

More details about use of Online VRF-TT can be found in Online VRF-TT User Manual.pdf

Online KSA-GEOID Height Calculator (Calculator hereafter) is the tool for calculation of

·         geoid heights from the grid of KSA-GEOID21 – the latest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  national hybrid geoid model KSA-GEOID21GASGI (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)) fitted to geoid heights of 3522 GASGI GPS/Levelling benchmarks from National Vertical Network.

The Calculator can be used in both Single point (one point) and MultiPoint (when multiple points coordinates are saved in the text file) modes.

Before making the transformation, the user has to provide input values of the following parameters:

·         Latitude

·         Longitude.

The input values for Latitude and Longitude must be either in Decimal Degrees (with up to 8 digits after the dot) or in DMS (Degree, Minutes and Seconds with up to 5 digits after the dot in the Seconds value) format. The output value of the Geoid Height will be in [meters] with up to 4 digits after the dot.

In the Single Point mode, the input values can be either in Decimal or in DMS format, and the output result contains Geoid Height only.

In the Multipoint mode,

the input file has to contain 2 values (separated with at least one space) in each record line for each point:

·         Latitude – the input value in [Degrees]

·         Longitude– the input value in [Degrees]

 

and the output file will contain 3 values (separated with at least one space) in each record line for each point:

·         Latitude – the input value [Degrees]

·         Longitude– the input value in [Degrees]

·         Geoid Height – the calculated value in [meters].

The Calculator is able to transform the data having the values only within the following range values covering the KSA area:

  • Latitude:              16°.02 – 33°.00

·         Longitude:           34°.00 – 56°. 00

If the input coordinates are out of these ranges the coordinates of such point will not be transformed and the user will see, in the Single Point mode, corresponding error indicators above the data entry fields and Out of range” error message in the result output window. In the MultiPoint mode, this error message will appear for all such points in the result output file.

When using the Calculator, the input coordinates (Latitudes, Longitudes) of points must be in KSA-GRF17. But a user could have the coordinates in any of existing Geodetic Reference Frame (GRF) (Technical Summary for Saudi Arabia National reference System (SANSRS)):

1.       ARAMCO Ain-Al-Abd

2.       ARAMCO (ITRF94) (named as well as ARAMCO_WGS84 (ITRF94 at the epoch 1998.0))

3.       GCS/GDMS (ITRF2000 at the epoch 2003.1998)

4.       MTRF2000 (ITRF2000 at the epoch 2004.0)

5.       WGS84 (G1762) (ITRF2008 at the epoch 2005.0)

6.       WGS84 (G2139) (ITRF2014 at the epoch 2016.0)

7.       WGS84 (defined in EPSG-9383 as ITRF2014 at the epoch 2010.0)

8.       KSA-GRF17 (ITRF2014 at the epoch 2017.0)

Usually, ellipsoidal heights are used to calculate orthometric heights if geoid model is available. The ellipsoidal heights change after transformation of various GRFs to KSA-GRF17. To avoid lower than 1 cm accuracy of ellipsoidal height in KSA-GRF17, it’s compulsory to transform 3D coordinates from the first four GRFs to KSA-GRF17, and only then horizontal coordinates in KSA-GRF17 and can be used in the Calculator as input values (see Online VRF-TT User Manual.pdf for details).

If the input coordinates are referenced to the last four GRFs in the list above, there is no need to transform them to KSA-GRF17. The horizontal coordinates might be at a few meters level to provide 1 mm grid interpolation accuracy.