It is important to find an appropriate spatial reference data for a specific coordinate system to get the correct display result. Improperly reference spatial data in some files will result misalignments of geographical locations which cause differences in distance between two coordinates. In order to fixed this issue, we need to pick the correct datum and geographical/projected coordinate systems.
- Check all the layers’ Properties on the Table of Content
- Scroll down to the Source and look at the Spatial References
- Record the Coordinates System and Datum info see if they all match.
If the coordinate system is missing, you will need to…
- Remove the original files from the Table of Content
- Launch the properties tab of the file on ArcCatalog
- Find the XY Coordinate System and click on the Geographic Coordinate Systems.
- Then under North America folder change it to NAD 1983 and press OK
- Finally, add back the file