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Why Is My GIS Data Showing at 0,0?

Published: January 2025 Read time: 5 minutes

You load your data into QGIS, ArcGIS, or a web map, and instead of appearing where expected, it shows up as a tiny dot in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Africa. Welcome to Null Island.

This guide explains why data appears at 0°, 0° and how to fix it.

Quick Answer: Why Data Shows at 0,0

Two main causes: 1) Null/missing coordinates defaulting to 0,0, or 2) Projected coordinates (meters) being interpreted as latitude/longitude (degrees). Use Projection Finder to diagnose which issue you have.

What Is Null Island?

Null Island is the point where the equator (0° latitude) meets the prime meridian (0° longitude)—in the Atlantic Ocean about 600 km off the coast of Ghana and Togo.

It's not a real island. The name is a running joke in the GIS community because so much bad data ends up there. There's even a fictitious tourism board.

If you see data at Null Island, something is wrong with your coordinates or projection.

Cause 1: Null Coordinate Values

The simplest explanation: your data has missing coordinates that defaulted to 0, 0.

How to Check

# In the attribute table, look for:
X: 0.0 or NULL
Y: 0.0 or NULL

Common Sources

How to Fix

  1. Filter out features where X=0 AND Y=0
  2. Or delete features with null geometry
  3. Re-geocode or re-collect the missing points

Cause 2: Wrong Projection (More Common)

This is the tricky one. Your coordinates are correct in their original projection, but they're being interpreted as lat/lon when they're actually in meters.

What Happens

Say your shapefile has UTM coordinates:

X: 552474.23 (meters)
Y: 4182938.15 (meters)

If the .prj file is missing or says WGS84, your GIS interprets these as:

Longitude: 552474.23° (impossible!)
Latitude: 4182938.15° (impossible!)

Since valid longitude is only -180 to +180, the software either:

Key insight: If all your data appears as a tiny cluster near Africa but should be spread across California, this is almost certainly a projection mismatch, not null values.

How to Diagnose

  1. Look at your raw coordinate values
  2. Are they small numbers (-180 to 180, -90 to 90)? → Geographic, likely WGS84
  3. Are they large numbers (100,000+)? → Projected (UTM, State Plane, etc.)
Coordinate Values What They Are Problem If Loaded as WGS84
-122.4, 37.8 Lat/lon degrees None—this is correct
552474, 4182938 UTM meters Appears at Null Island
6543210, 2345678 State Plane feet Appears at Null Island

How to Fix

  1. Identify the correct CRS — Use Projection Finder to analyze coordinate patterns
  2. Define (don't reproject) — Tell your GIS what CRS the coordinates ARE in
  3. Then reproject if needed — Convert to your target CRS

Diagnose Your Null Island Problem

Upload your file and see where the coordinates actually belong on the map.

Open Projection Finder

Step-by-Step Fix in QGIS

  1. Load the layer (it appears at Null Island)
  2. Right-click → Set CRS → Set Layer CRS
  3. Search for the correct CRS (e.g., EPSG:32610 for UTM Zone 10N)
  4. The data should now appear in the correct location
  5. If you need to save in a different CRS, use Export → Save Features As and set the target CRS

Step-by-Step Fix in ArcGIS Pro

  1. Use the Define Projection tool (NOT Project)
  2. Set the coordinate system to what the data IS in
  3. The data should snap to the correct location
  4. Use Project tool if you need to convert to a different CRS

Define vs. Project: Critical Difference

Action What It Does When to Use
Define Projection Tells software what CRS the coordinates ARE in Data in wrong place due to missing/wrong CRS
Project/Reproject Transforms coordinates to a different CRS Converting between known projections

Don't use Project when you mean Define! Projecting data that already has the wrong CRS defined will make things worse—you'll transform already-wrong coordinates, creating a double-error.

FAQ

Why is my GIS data showing at 0,0 coordinates?

Either you have null coordinate values defaulting to 0,0, or projected coordinates (meters) are being interpreted as latitude/longitude (degrees). Check if your values are large numbers (projected) vs. small decimals (geographic).

What is Null Island in GIS?

Null Island is the point at 0° latitude, 0° longitude in the Gulf of Guinea. It's where misconfigured GIS data often appears due to null coordinates or projection errors. It's a joke name for a real data quality problem.

How do I fix data showing at Null Island?

First diagnose the cause: check if coordinates are actually 0,0 (filter them out) or if they're projected coordinates misinterpreted as geographic (use Define Projection to assign the correct CRS). Use Projection Finder to identify the correct projection.

My shapefile appears off the coast of Africa. Why?

Your shapefile has projected coordinates (UTM, State Plane) but the .prj file is missing or incorrectly says WGS84. Large numbers like 500000 interpreted as degrees place data near 0,0. Use Define Projection to set the correct CRS.

Summary

  1. Check coordinate values — Large numbers = projected, small decimals = geographic
  2. If values are 0,0 — Filter out null coordinates
  3. If values are large numbers — Use Define Projection, not Project
  4. Use Projection Finder — To identify the correct CRS from coordinate patterns

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