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    EPSG reference

    EPSG:20538 — Afgooye / UTM zone 38N

    Afgooye / UTM zone 38N (EPSG:20538) — a Projected (metres) system on the krass datum, used in Somalia. Parameters, proj4, WKT, accuracy ±0.1 m, plus a free converter to…

    At a glance

    EPSG
    20538
    Name
    Afgooye / UTM zone 38N
    Kind
    Projected (metres)
    Family
    Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
    Ellipsoid
    krass
    Accuracy
    ±0.1 m (vs PROJ)
    Countries
    Somalia
    Convert from this system now

    Area of use

    West42.00°
    South0.00°
    East48.00°
    North11.52°

    Projection parameters

    Projectionutm
    UTM zone38
    Ellipsoidkrass
    Unitsm
    Helmert shift to WGS84-43,-163,45,0,0,0,0
    proj4
    +proj=utm +zone=38 +ellps=krass +units=m +no_defs +towgs84=-43,-163,45,0,0,0,0
    WKT (ESRI)
    PROJCS["Afgooye / UTM zone 38N",GEOGCS["GCS_Afgooye / UTM zone 38N",DATUM["D_Krassowsky_1940",SPHEROID["Krassowsky_1940",6378245,298.3],TOWGS84[-43,-163,45,0,0,0,0]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Transverse_Mercator"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",500000],PARAMETER["False_Northing",0],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",45],PARAMETER["Scale_Factor",0.9996],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",0],UNIT["Meter",1],AUTHORITY["EPSG","20538"]]

    Sample conversion

    Somalia capital: WGS84 45.31820, 2.04690 → EPSG:20538 535470.053, 226202.130

    Values are within ±0.1 m at the test point.

    About the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) family

    Afgooye / UTM zone 38N is a Universal Transverse Mercator zone — a 6°-wide belt of the worldwide UTM system, in metres, centred on a meridian carefully chosen so distortion stays low across the zone. It is the everyday working grid for GPS-derived surveying in Somalia.

    The classic field mistake with UTM is using the wrong zone: a point one zone away is easily hundreds of kilometres off. Always confirm the zone number (and the hemisphere) before importing coordinates, and remember that UTM eastings are offset by a 500 km false easting so they never go negative.

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    FAQ

    It is the coordinate system “Afgooye / UTM zone 38N”, a Projected (metres) system in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) family, identified worldwide by the code EPSG:20538.

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