How to Convert Map Coordinates in Excel

Published on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 by Milos Gregor


This post shows you how to convert coordinates between different map projections directly in Excel.

The GIS.XL add-in does not support direct map coordinates conversion. But this feature you can use indirectly. Imagine that you have in your Excel table of GPS coordinates and you want to convert them from one coordinate system to another. If you use the GIS.XL add-in, you only need to take 3 simple steps:

  • create point shapefile layer in the current coordinate system (WGS84)
  • change the projection of Map Panel (with created shapefile) to the desired coordinate system
  • export coordinates back to Excel spreadsheet in changed projection

The procedure is very simple and quick.

The following video shows the conversion in practice. The example uses a list of 1,288 springs with their spatial positions in WGS84 coordinate system (latitude, longitude). After the shapefile creating, the coordinate system in Map Panel is changed to “USA Contiguous Lambert Conformal Conic”. Finally, converted coordinates are imported back into Excel spreadsheet.