Why are my points offset when using the Go to XY tool?

Question

I am creating points in ArcGIS 10.1 to add to a GPS so I can navigate to them in the field.

I add my points by editing an empty shapefile created in ArcCatalog. I then Add Field: Lat and Long as "Float" points. I then use the "Calculate Geometry" to add X and Y coordinates in decimal degrees. The points layer and map layer are all WGS1984.

To check the coordinates I used the "Go to XY" toolbar and the points created by this tool are always offset from the shapefile points by 20-40 m.

Does anyone know the reason for this and how it can be fixed?

Answer 1

This is just a problem of too few decimal places being shown.

You need to use DOUBLE instead of FLOAT as the field data types.

Also, after you calculate geometry on each lat-long field, you can right click on the field name in the attribute table and go to properties.

Click the [...] button next to Numeric, and increase the number of decimal places up to 15.

This should be much, much more precise. Let me know if you have any questions.