1. Coordinate Systems in Malaysia
History, Future and Somewhere in Between
For GMAT2700 Geodesy and Spatial Reference Frames
By Nor Yahaya

2. Malaysia A country in South East Asia
Situated between 2° and 7° to the North of the Equator line
Consists of 13 states and 3 Federal Territories
The East Malaysia and West Malaysia are separated by the South China Sea

3. History of Malaysian Datum
Starting with the geodetic datum - realized by establishing triangulation network.
Triangulation:
Measurement of at least a baseline and angles
Basic principles:
If length of one side of a triangle is known and angles are accurately measured, the other two sides of the triangle can be measured
As we have learnt in Lecture 10 – It is o0ne of the horizontal control survey methods

4. History of Malaysian Datum
Old Triangulation Network for Peninsular Malaysia:
Establishment of Perak System to support cadastral requirements for Perak, Penang and Kedah
1899
Another triangulation known as Asa System was based on a baseline measured in Tanjung Malim and astronomical observation of latitude, longitude and azimuth done at Bukit Asa
1908
A traverse 1491 miles covering the western side of the main range was carried out
1909
The major triangulation of Pahang was completed
1910
The triangulation was extended to the border with Thailand
1911
The Johor major triangulation connecting Pahang to Singapore was completed
1912
Triangulation survey connecting Kedah and Perlis

5. History of Malaysian Datum – Malayan Primary Triangulation
Primary Triangulation of Malaya (1913 – 1916)
Formed by the existing triangulation network
System was not unified through common adjustment
Resolved to one common system in 1948
Lat/ Long of the origin of Repsoid Triangulation (Kertau) was decided to be altered.
Malaysian datum has started with Malayan Primary Triangulation
Resolved to one common system in 1948 due to inaccuracies in older triangulations – geographical positions difference between common points in 2 different systems (Perak and Asa System)

6. History of Malaysian Datum – Malayan Primary Triangulation
Malayan Revised Triangulation (MRT)
Used in Peninsular Malaysia since 1948
Consists of 77 geodetic stations, 240 primary stations, 837 secondary and 51 tertiary stations
Adopted as a result of previous network re-computations + Primary Triangulation
Reference ellipsoid – Modified Everest
Origin – Kertau
Map projection – Rectified Skew Orthomorphic (RSO)
Cadastral surveys projection – Cassini Soldner
-Used in Peninsular Malaysia since 1948 for geodetic , mapping, cadastral and other surveys

7. History of Malaysian Datum – Malayan Primary Triangulation
Borneo Triangulation 1968 (BT68)
Geodetic network for Sabah and Sarawak
Results from the re-adjustment of the primary control of East Malaysia
Origin – Bukit Timbalai, Labuan
Consists of Borneo West Coast Triangulation of Brunei and Sabah, Borneo EAst Coast Triangulation of Sarawak, extension of the West Coast Triangulation in Sabah and some Doppler points survey between

8. Technology revolution
Well suited for surveying of long inter-station distances (ten kms – hundreds kms)
Capable of 3D baseline measurement
All weather operations
Globally applicable
24/7 availability

9. Needs Towards Geocentric Datum
Widely used satellite positioning systems
Existing datum incompatible
Unification of datums between East and West Malaysia
In line with international recommendation
By definition, a geocentric datum is a system whose origin (0,0,0) coincides with the center mass of the Earth and the directions of their axes are defined by convention.
Reasons for adoption are listed on slide.
The adoption of geocentric datum will lead to a homogeneous national coordinate system across the country, and will ensure that coordinates are directly compatible with GPS coordinates output and with international mapping and charting standards.

10. GDM2000 – The Realization
Zero Order GPS Network (MASS)
Strengthening of PMPGN and EMPGN
GDM2000 Realization
MASS Network in Malaysia
IGS Stations
Existing PMPGN
and EMPGN
The MASS is the first GPS permanent network managed by the Dept. Of Surveying and Mapping Malaysia.
Consists of 18 stations established throughout the country.
The stations automatically record and archive data from available GPS satellites for accurate position determination continuously.
MASS will provide code range and carrier phase data which can be used for post-processing of GPS data.
Data available for public.
The MASS is connected to ITRF through connection to existing IGS
Re observation of 36 PMPGN stations to connect them to MASS network.
11 of the stations were used as check stations for QC and network verification.
A new set of 7 parameters transformation has been derived between GDM2000 and old WGS84 datum.
A new projection in RSO was then developed to directly project all positions in GDM2000 to the plane coords in the map.

11. GDM2000 – Implications On Cadastral Survey
Current cadastral survey system will be maintained until the implementation of Coordinated Cadastral System (CCS) – which would be using GDM2000 as coordinate reference frame for Cadastral Surveys in Peninsular Malaysia
CCS - Unified cadastral coordinate system towards more accurate cadastral coordinates

12. GDM2000 – Implications On Mapping Change in coordinates ≈ 200m
Displacement:
1: mm on map
1: mm on map
Change in grids and graticules position
Change in coordinates of map features
Transformation process in mapping products will be simple

13. GDM2000 – Implications On GPS Positioning
Currently is based on WGS84 coordinates
Not much difference:
GDM2000 is based on ITRF2000 epoch 00.0
WGS84 has been closely aligned to ITRF
However will affect high precision absolute positioning

14. Coordinate System in Malaysia
Old Cassini-Soldner for Peninsular Malaysia (E, N)
Old Rectified Skew Orthomorphic for Peninsular Malaysia (E, N)
Old Rectified Skew Orthomorphic for East Malaysia (E, N)
Malayan Revised Triangulation (ф, λ, h)
Peninsular Malaysia Primary GPS Network (ф, λ, h and X, Y, Z)
East Malaysia Primary GPS Network (ф, λ, h and X, Y, Z)
Geocentric Datum of Malaysia (ф, λ, h and X, Y, Z)
New Cassini-Soldner for Peninsular Malaysia (E, N)
New Rectified Skew Orthomorphic for Peninsular Malaysia (E, N)
New Rectified Skew Orthomorphic for East Malaysia (E, N)

15. References
GDM2000 Technical Manual from Department of Surveying and Mapping Malaysia
GMAT4900 lecture notes from C. Rizos, 2010