Zone map
Zone lines are simplified. Near a line, trust the NGS check above the map.
What is State Plane?
State Plane is a set of flat maps of the US, one or more per state, called zones. Each zone uses northing and easting in feet or meters instead of latitude and longitude, so measuring and drawing is easy. Surveyors, engineers and county GIS offices use it every day. The zones on this page are SPCS 83, which sits on the NAD 83 datum.
Which foot does my state use?
Each state picks its unit by law. For SPCS 83, 40 states use the US survey foot, 6 use the international foot (Arizona, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and South Carolina), and the rest have no foot in their law, so the official numbers are in meters (Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Missouri, plus DC and the territories).
The two feet differ by 2 parts per million. That sounds tiny, but at State Plane sizes it can add up to several feet. See the unit converter.
Source: NOAA Special Publication NOS NGS 13, The State Plane Coordinate System (2018), Appendix C, Table C1. It lists each state's law. Check your state's current statute before legal work.
Kentucky, Louisiana offshore and Puerto Rico
Kentucky has North and South zones and also a statewide Single Zone (code 1600). Both are legal, and NGS's tool picks the Single Zone by default. The map shows North and South. Louisiana also has an offshore zone (1703), and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands share zone 5200. Those three are not drawn on the map, but the converter can use them.
What about SPCS 2022?
NGS is building a new system, SPCS2022, as part of its new datums (the modernized National Spatial Reference System). It will have new zones and will not use the US survey foot. It is not in use yet, so this tool shows SPCS 83, the system in use today. Follow NGS for dates: NGS State Plane Coordinate System page.
Where this data comes from
- Zone lines: USA State Plane Zones NAD 1983 (Esri, ArcGIS Data and Maps; sources: Esri and NOAA). Redistributed with attribution as its license allows. It is a simplified, small-scale map. NGS defines the official zone lines, which mostly follow county lines.
- Zone codes and units: NOAA Special Publication NOS NGS 13, The State Plane Coordinate System (2018), Appendix C, Table C1.
- NGS check: after each search we ask NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT) for its zone at your point and show if it agrees.
- Address search: US Census Geocoder, then OpenStreetMap Nominatim.
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