BYTETOOLS

ECEF Coordinate Converter

Convert geodetic latitude, longitude and height to WGS-84 ECEF XYZ and back with Bowring's method, plus local east/north/up from a reference station.

ECEF is the Earth-centred, Earth-fixed Cartesian frame: the origin is the centre of mass, Z points at the north pole and X pierces the equator at the prime meridian. This converter uses WGS-84 (a = 6 378 137 m, 1/f = 298.257223563) and ellipsoidal height, not height above sea level.
4517590.879
X (m)
0.000
Y (m)
4487348.409
Z (m)
0.000
Height (m)

ECEF and geodetic position

ECEF XYZ (metres)
4517590.8788, 0.0000, 4487348.4089
Geodetic (WGS-84)
45.000000000, 0.000000000, 0.0000 m
Geodetic in DMS
45°0'0.00"N 0°0'0.00"E
Distance from the Earth's centre
6367489.544 m
Prime vertical radius N
6388838.290 m
Ellipsoid used
WGS-84, a = 6378137 m, b = 6356752.314245 m

What is the ECEF Coordinate Converter?

ECEF — Earth-Centred, Earth-Fixed — is the Cartesian frame satellites and GNSS receivers actually work in: the origin is the Earth's centre of mass, Z points at the north pole, and X pierces the equator at the prime meridian.

  • Two-way conversion between geodetic WGS-84 coordinates and ECEF XYZ
  • Bowring's closed-form inverse — accurate and non-iterative
  • Local east, north and up offsets from any reference station you choose
  • Azimuth, elevation angle, slant range and horizontal distance from the station
  • Shows the prime vertical radius and the ellipsoid constants actually used
  • Runs entirely in your browser, with no uploads and no network calls

How to use the ECEF Coordinate Converter

  1. 1

    Choose a direction: geodetic to ECEF, or ECEF back to geodetic.

  2. 2

    Enter latitude, longitude and ellipsoidal height, or the X, Y and Z components in metres.

  3. 3

    Tick the reference station box if you want a local east/north/up offset as well.

  4. 4

    Enter the station's latitude, longitude and height.

  5. 5

    Read the ECEF components, the geodetic position, and the ENU offset with azimuth and elevation.

About the ECEF Coordinate Converter

ECEF — Earth-Centred, Earth-Fixed — is the Cartesian frame satellites and GNSS receivers actually work in: the origin is the Earth's centre of mass, Z points at the north pole, and X pierces the equator at the prime meridian. This converter turns geodetic latitude, longitude and ellipsoidal height into ECEF X, Y and Z, and inverts it with Bowring's closed-form method so there is no iteration to converge.

Switch on the reference station and it also gives the local east, north and up offset of your point from that station, along with the azimuth, elevation angle and slant range. That is the frame used for baseline vectors, antenna pointing and RTK corrections, and it is far easier to reason about than raw geocentric metres.

Heights here are ellipsoidal, measured from the WGS-84 ellipsoid, not from mean sea level — the same value a raw GPS fix reports before a geoid model is applied. Everything is computed in your browser; no coordinates are uploaded.

Frequently asked questions

What are ECEF coordinates?

They are three Cartesian metres — X, Y and Z — measured from the centre of the Earth in a frame that rotates with the planet. GNSS satellites broadcast their positions this way, and receivers solve for your position in ECEF before converting it to the latitude and longitude you see.

Is the height in this tool above sea level?

No, it is ellipsoidal height, measured from the smooth WGS-84 ellipsoid. That can differ from height above mean sea level by tens of metres depending where you are, because the geoid is lumpy. Converting between the two needs a geoid model such as EGM2008.

What is the ENU frame used for?

East, north and up is the natural local frame for anything happening near one place: baseline vectors between survey markers, antenna pointing, drone flight logs and RTK corrections. It turns two unwieldy sets of geocentric metres into a small, readable offset.

What is Bowring's method?

It is a closed-form way of getting latitude back out of ECEF coordinates, using an auxiliary parametric latitude instead of iterating. Published in 1976, it is accurate to well under a millimetre for any point near the Earth's surface and is what most geodesy libraries use.

Which ellipsoid does this use?

WGS-84, with a semi-major axis of 6,378,137 metres and a flattening of 1/298.257223563. That is the datum GPS broadcasts in. If your data is on a different datum such as ETRS89 or NAD83, apply the datum transformation before using these numbers.

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