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Kentucky State Plane Coordinate Systems
Single Zone | North and South Zone


The Kentucky Single Zone Coordinate System of 1983
The Kentucky Single Zone Coordinate System as defined and officially adopted through the promulgation of 10 KAR 5:010 in August of 2001 was developed by the GIAC Single Zone Subcommittee to address the increasing need for a mapping projection that covers the entire state in a balanced manner than extending the existing North and South Zones beyond their originally intended ranges.

Kentucky Single Zone Parameters
Projection Scheme
FIPS Code: 1600
Lambert Conformal Conic map projection with double standard parallels
Datum and Ellipsoid North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83)
Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS80) Ellipsoid
Linear units of measure
United States Survey Foot as defined by		 One USFt equals 1200 / 3937 meter
(0.304800610 US Ft)
One meter equals 3937 / 1200 USFt
(3.280833333 US Ft)
Geographic Parameters
North Standard Parallel38 deg 40 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)38.6666666667 deg
South Standard Parallel37 deg 05 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)37.0833333333 deg
Parallel of Grid Origin36 deg 20 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)36.3333333333 deg
Meridian of Grid Origin85 deg 45 min West Longitude
(in decimal degrees)-85.75 deg
False Northing1,000,000 meters (3,280,833.33333 US Ft)
False Easting1,500,000 meters (4,921,250.00000 US Ft)
Note: The Kentucky Single Zone is not defined on the NAD27 datum.


The Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983 - North and South Zones


The Kentucky Coordinate System of 1983, as defined and adopted by KRS 1:020 was originally developed by the National Geodetic Survey (formerly the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey) back in the 1930’s as part of a national effort to provide land surveyors and engineers with a means of representing projects in a common coordinate system that covered very large areas of interest. Under this system, Kentucky is divided into the North and South Zones. The southern edge of the following counties delineates the boundary between the North Zone and the South Zone: Bullitt, Spencer, Anderson, Woodford, Jessamine, Fayette, Clark, Montgomery, Menifee, Morgan, and Lawrence ( map with county names, pdf format).

The state plane coordinate system in Kentucky was originally defined on the North American Datum of 1927 utilizing the Clarke Ellipsoid of 1866 with the United States Survey Foot (USFt) being the linear unit of measure, however, in 1986 the NGS adopted the North American Datum of 1983, which is based on the Geodetic Reference System of 1980 ellipsoid, with the meter being adopted as the standard unit of linear measure.

In the process of transitioning from NAD27 to NAD83, the NGS revised the parameters defining the origin of the North and South zones so that obvious and discernibly different coordinates for the same position would result between the two datums. This strategy was adopted so that it would be possible to recognize the basis of datum (NAD27 or NAD83) for a given set of coordinates when no other information is given in addition to the coordinate values.

Given that the North and South zones were defined on the NAD27 datum over a period of several decades, there are mapping products and spatial datasets based on the NAD27 state plane system still in use today. It is therefore important that the basis of datum for state plane coordinate values be ascertained any time they are encountered. To eliminate the guesswork involved in identifying the basis of spatial data, it is always desirable that the data be accompanied by information, or metadata, explaining the exact basis of datum and the linear units of measure being utilized.

Kentucky North And South Zone Parameters
Projection Scheme
Lambert Conformal Conic map projection with double standard parallels
Datum and Ellipsoid North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83)
Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS80) Ellipsoid
Linear units of measure
United States Survey Foot as defined by		 One USFt equals 1200 / 3937 meter
(0.304800610 US Ft)
One meter equals 3937 / 1200 USFt
(3.280833333 US Ft)
Geographic Parameters
North Zone – FIPS Code 1601
North Standard Parallel38 deg 58 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)38.9666666667 deg
South Standard Parallel37 deg 58 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)37. 9666666667 deg
Parallel of Grid Origin37 deg 30 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)37.5 deg
Meridian of Grid Origin84 deg 15 min West Longitude
(in decimal degrees)-84.25 deg
False Northing0 meters (0 US Ft)
False Easting500,000 meters (1,640,416.66667 US Ft)
Note:
The NAD27 North Zone is defined by the same above geometric parameters and differs only in the False Northing and False Easting values. They are as follows:
NAD27 North Zone False Northing0 US Ft
NAD27 North Zone False Easting2,000,000 US Ft

South Zone – FIPS Code 1602
North Standard Parallel37 deg 56 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)37.9333333333 deg
South Standard Parallel36 deg 44 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)36.7333333333 deg
Parallel of Grid Origin36 deg 20 min North Latitude
(in decimal degrees)36.3333333333 deg
Meridian of Grid Origin85 deg 45 min West Longitude
(in decimal degrees)-85.75 deg
False Northing500,000 meters (1,640,416.66667 US Ft)
False Easting500,000 meters (1,640,416.66667 US Ft)
Note:
The NAD27 South Zone is defined by the same above geometric parameters and differs only in the False Northing and False Easting values. They are as follows:
NAD27 South Zone False Northing0 US Ft
NAD27 South Zone False Easting2,000,000 US Ft