This International Standard defines the conceptual schema for the description of spatial referencing by coordinates. It describes the minimum data required to define one-, two- and three-dimensional coordinate reference systems. It allows additional descriptive information to be provided. It also describes the information required to change coordinate values from one coordinate reference system to another.
This International Standard is applicable to producers and users of geographic information. Although it is applicable to digital geographic data, its principles can be extended to many other forms of geographic data such as maps, charts, and text documents.