Israeli Transverse Mercator (ITM), also known as the New Israel Grid (NIG; ''Reshet Yisra'el Ha-Ḥadasha'') is the new

geographic coordinate system A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical coordinate system, spherical or geodetic coordinates, geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating position (geometry), positions directly on Earth as latitude and longitude. ...

for

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. The name is derived from the

transverse Mercator The transverse Mercator map projection (TM, TMP) is an adaptation of the standard Mercator projection. The transverse version is widely used in national and international mapping systems around the world, including the Universal Transverse Mercat ...

projection it uses and the fact that it is optimized for Israel. ITM has replaced the old coordinate system Israeli Cassini Soldner (ICS), also known as the Old Israel Grid (OIG). It became the official grid for Israel in 1998.

The need for a new grid

ITM replaced the Old Israel Grid (OIG) (), also known as the Israel Cassini Soldner (ICS), which was based on the Cassini-Soldner projection. ICS in turn was a simple modification of the

Palestine grid The Palestine grid was the geographic coordinate system used by the Survey Department of Palestine. The system was chosen by the Survey Department of the Government of Palestine in 1922. The projection used was the Cassini projection, Cassini-So ...

used during the British mandate. The central meridian in the new projection, as in the old one, crosses through

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The new grid has two main advantages. One is that the Transverse Mercator projection is better for navigation than Cassini-Soldner. The other is that ICS was based on a 19th-century reference ellipsoid (approximation of the shape of the Earth) and this was replaced by a more accurate approximation. Additional information on the creation of the new grid is available in Hebrew.

Examples

An ITM coordinate is generally given as a pair of six digit numbers (excluding any digits behind a

decimal point FIle:Decimal separators.svg, alt=Four types of separating decimals: a) 1,234.56. b) 1.234,56. c) 1'234,56. d) ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٦., Both a comma and a full stop (or period) are generally accepted decimal separators for international use. The apost ...

which may be used in very precise surveying). The first number is always the

Easting A projected coordinate systemalso called a projected coordinate reference system, planar coordinate system, or grid reference systemis a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on Earth using Cartesian coordinates (''x'', '' ...

and the second is the

Northing A projected coordinate systemalso called a projected coordinate reference system, planar coordinate system, or grid reference systemis a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on Earth using Cartesian coordinates (''x'', '' ...

. The easting and northing are in metres from the false

origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

. The ITM coordinate for the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

is 222286 632556, which means :E 222286 m :N 631556 m The first figure is the easting and means that the location is 222,286 meters east from the false origin (along the

X axis In geometry, a Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of real numbers called ''coordinates'', which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular o ...

). The second figure is the northing and puts the location 631,556 meters north of the false origin (along the Y axis). Also notice how the easting in this example is indicated with an “E” and likewise an “N” for the northing. The table below shows the same coordinate in 3 different grids:

Grid Parameters

The ITM coordinate system is definedSurvey Regulations 2016, p. 36 (1378)
/ref> by the following parameters:

Projection Projection or projections may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphics, and carto ...

Transverse Mercator The transverse Mercator map projection (TM, TMP) is an adaptation of the standard Mercator projection. The transverse version is widely used in national and international mapping systems around the world, including the Universal Transverse Mercat ...

Reference ellipsoid An Earth ellipsoid or Earth spheroid is a mathematical figure approximating the Earth's form, used as a reference frame for computations in geodesy, astronomy, and the geosciences. Various different ellipsoids have been used as approximation ...

Origin Point False Origin

Parameters for conversion to WGS84

Shift Rotation Scale {, class="wikitable" , - , Scale , , 5.4248 , , ppm

References

External links

MAPI
(Mapping Center of Israel) official website (''Hebrew'').
Converting latitude and longitude to ITM coordinates
(free and open source software).
Geography educational website
of Haifa's university. Geographic coordinate systems Geography of Israel Land surveying systems Geodesy