Cartographic Coordinate System (Environment setting)

Tools that honor the Cartographic Coordinate System environment will use the specified coordinate system to determine the size, extent, and spatial relationships of features when making calculations.

For a description of how coordinate systems are set and used in geoprocessing, see Spatial reference and geoprocessing.

Usage notes

• When running tools that honor the Cartographic Coordinate System environment setting, the coordinate system will be defined by the active data frame if the environment setting is not explicitly set. When a display data frame is not available (because you are running tools in a script or outside the application), the coordinate system will be defined by the input data if the environment setting is not otherwise explicitly set.
• If you specify the cartographic coordinate system to be the same as a map or layer, the coordinate system is read and stored. The next time you examine the Cartographic Coordinate System environment setting, it will be set to that coordinate system. If you subsequently change the coordinate system of the display or the layer that was used to set the value, the Cartographic Coordinate System environment setting is not updated. You must reset it if you want it to reflect the new coordinate system.

Dialog syntax

Cartographic Coordinate System—The coordinate system used to assess the spatial extent for input features

• Current Map—The coordinate system of the current map or scene will be used.
• All layers are listed, and you can choose one as the coordinate system.

You can also click the Select Coordinate System button to select a different coordinate system.

Scripting syntax

arcpy.env.cartographicCoordinateSystem = coordinate_system

cartographicCoordinateSystem syntax

Parameter	Explanation
coordinate_system	The coordinate system used to assess the spatial extent for input features. The coordinate system can be set using any of the following: The SpatialReference object A dataset A .prj file

Script example

import arcpy

# Set the cartographic coordinate system to NAD83 UTM Zone 22 North
arcpy.env.cartographicCoordinateSystem = "Coordinate Systems\Projected Coordinate Systems\Utm\Nad 1983\NAD 1983 UTM Zone 22N.prj"