Plate Carree to KML & KMZ

Good to know

• Datum: Defined on WGS 84 — no shift needed.

Convert a whole spreadsheet

1. Open the web app or the Windows app, and paste your rows from Excel or open a CSV file.
2. Under Coordinate system, search for “54001” and pick Plate Carree.
3. Check one point you know on the map, then press Save KML or Save KMZ and open it in Google Earth.

Common mistakes with Plate Carree

• Feet entered as metres. Plate Carree is in metres. Coordinates copied from a drawing in feet must be converted first, or every point moves outwards from the grid's origin.
• Looking for a datum shift that isn't there. Plate Carree is defined on WGS 84, the datum Google Earth uses, so no shift is applied. If points are off by tens or hundreds of metres, the data is probably on another grid.
• Points outside the grid's area. Plate Carree is meant for World. Points well outside that area convert with growing error; the converter flags them so you can choose the right grid.
• A local site grid. If every point is off by the same distance and direction, the drawing may be on a local site grid. Calibrate on three or more known control points instead.

New to this? Read how to convert easting and northing to latitude and longitude.