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I'm trying to troubleshoot why my data is going to Null Island. I'm using Surfer for the first time. I have a .csv of several dozen points collected in WGS84, UTM Zone 16N. I've verified that the coordinates are correct. When I import the data to Surfer they assume a local coordinate system. I then set the coordinate system inside the properties box. Once I export the data though, it just does to Null Island, and the scale is absolutely miniscule...like 10 cm across when in reality it should be about about 200 meters across.

The problem is my data is not projected correctly and the scale is completely wrong.

I have imported my .csv, assigned it WGS84 UTM Zone 16N coordinate system, and then created a new map with that data. I then set the coordinate systems to EGS84 UTM Zone 16N on both the map and the layer. The distribution of the points looks good, and the coordinated on both axes looks good. But something isn't right at this point. I added a scale bar and it tells me that my data is only 0.003 meters across. In reality, the data should be about 200 meters across. This is probably my biggest issue that I can't figure out.

The next issue is that I can't get it to show up in southern Michigan. It either goes to null island or the Galapagos islands.

Vince
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redleg_64
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    It's nearly always the case that when you "set the coordinate system" and the result is Null Island that you should have reprojected the data instead. Please [Edit] the Question to detail your exact procedure. – Vince Oct 21 '22 at 14:38
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    Why would you need to set the coordinate system on the layer twice? This is certainly the source of your difficulty, and you are glossing over the procedure. Please provide details on the range of X and Y values in the CSV file, and screenshots or outputs of tools that show the extent and projection metadata at each step in the process. – Vince Oct 21 '22 at 15:32
  • Well, the Surfer documentation says that the coordinate system needs to be set on both the map as well as the layers included in it. The coordinates (as taken directly from the data) are in the right spot when entered into Google Earth. When I export the map as a shapefile or kml, the points are plotted either at null island or the galapagos islands. Yes, that's a problem, but that's something I can probably figure out with time.

    I'd love to provide a screenshot for you, but I am not permitted to do that.

     – redleg_64 Oct 21 '22 at 15:44
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    Please share a snippet of your CSV. – Pointdump Oct 21 '22 at 16:00
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    If they're showing up correctly in Google Earth, they're likely in WGS84 lat,lon, not WGS84 UTM 16N. – mkennedy Oct 22 '22 at 17:09
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    See here for this very common error: https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/383437/88814 – Babel Oct 23 '22 at 13:27

1 Answers1

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It does sound like your coordinates are in longitude and latitude instead of meters (which is why the scale bar shows 0.003, since it's displaying in degrees and not meters). If the data is in lat/lon, set the Layer coordinate system to WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) and then set the coordinate system for the Map to the WGS84 UTM z16N. That will project the lat/lon layer into the UTM coordinates (meters).

If there is still an issue or it's not looking right, please email the CSV file and the SRF file showing the map to surfersupport@goldensoftware.com. We can look at it and let you know what is going on. Thanks!

Kari Dickenson
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