Coordinate Systems in MATSim

For some operations, MATSim must know about the coordinate system your data is in. For example, If you want to generate kml-Output for Counts-Validation, MATSim has to convert the coordinates in your network to WGS84, the coordinate system used by Google Earth.

Specifying the Coordinate System used

You can specify the coordinate system in the config-file:

<module name="global">
  <param name="coordinateSystem" value="CH1903LV1903" />
</module>

The value specified for the coordinateSystem parameter can be:

• The short-name of a coordinate system known to MATSim. We define names for coordinate systems we use regularly in our work. These names are currently defined in TransformationFactory. The short-name Atlantis stands for an artificial coordinate system which maps our examples without relation to the real world somewhere in to the Atlantic ocean.
• Well-Known-Text (WKT) description of a coordinate system as they are supported by Geotools. This variant is not very readable, but allows one to experiment also in regions where MATSim does not provide a short-name for. Examples of WKT can be found in the MATSim-class MGC (in the transformations map).

Notes about Coordinate Systems

As the distance calculation in WGS84-coordinates (or any spherical coordinates) is rather complex (a simple Pythagoras is not enough), we advise people to use a Cartesian coordinate systems, preferable where one unit corresponds to one meter. Using such a coordinate system is a pre-requisit if one wants to use the optimized A*Landmarks-Router in MATSim.