Examples of Projection Entries in the MAPINFOW.PRJ File - MapInfo_Pro - 2023

The MAPINFOW.PRJ file lists the parameters for each coordinate system on a separate line, as in the following examples:

"Mollweide (Equal Area)", 13, 62, 7, 0

"Albers Equal-Area Conic (Alaska)", 9, 63, 7, -154, 50, 55, 65, 0, 0

"UTM Zone 9 (NAD 27 for Canada)", 8, 66, 7, -129, 0, 0.9996, 500000, 0

This is a basic list of the elements of a coordinate system, for review. There are some projections that do not require all of the elements in the list. Following this list, you can see some entries from the .PRJ file.

1. The first element in each list is the name of the projection in quotes.
2. The second element in each list is the number that identifies the projection number as indicated in Projection Types List.
3. The third element in each list is the datum ID that identifies the appropriate datum for the projection. See Datums for a complete list of supported datums.
4. The fourth element in each list is the units, which indicate the units of the projection. See Units for a current list of the supported units.
5. The next element in some lists is the coordinate system origin. See Coordinate System Origin for a complete description of this entry.
6. The remaining elements are specific to particular types of projections. You can see their descriptions in Standard Parallels (Conic Projections), Oblique Azimuth (Hotine Oblique Mercator), Scale Factor (Transverse Mercator), False Easting and False Northing and Range (Azimuthal Projections).
   Note: Each element in a projection entry is separated by a comma.

Let us look at some specific coordinate systems to prepare you to create your own projection. It is important to remember that the elements of a projection are different for each projection. Here are some examples we have already seen:

Example: "Mollweide (Equal Area)", 13, 62, 7, 0

where:

Example: "Albers Equal-Area Conic (Alaska)", 9, 63, 7, -154, 50, 55, 65, 0, 0

where:

Example:

"UTM Zone 9 (NAD 27 for Canada)", 8, 66, 7, -129, 0, 0.9996, 500000, 0

where:*