EPSG Library · Global and web

EPSG:4230 — ED50

Source: EPSG Dataset via PROJ 9.5.1 · Updated 2026-10-05

Summary

EPSG:4230 (ED50) is a geographic 2D coordinate reference system on the European Datum 1950 datum with coordinates in degrees. Area of use: Europe - west: Andorra; Cyprus; Denmark - onshore and offshore; Faroe Islands - onshore; France - offshore; Germany - offshore North Sea; Gibraltar; Greece - offshore; Israel - offshore; Italy including San Marino and Vatican City State; Ireland offshore; Malta; Netherlands - offshore; North Sea; Norway including Svalbard - onshore and offshore; Portugal - mainland - offshore; Spain - onshore; Türkiye (Turkey) - onshore and offshore; United Kingdom - UKCS offshore east of 6°W including Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey).

Type: geographic 2D
Datum: European Datum 1950
Units: degree
Axes: Lat, Lon

Definition

EPSG:4230 as published in the EPSG Dataset (PROJ 9.5.1).
Property	Value
EPSG code	EPSG:4230
Name	ED50
Type	Geographic 2d CRS
Datum	European Datum 1950
Ellipsoid	International 1924 (a = 6,378,388.000 m, 1/f = 297)
Prime meridian	Greenwich
Axes	Geodetic latitude (Lat, north, degree); Geodetic longitude (Lon, east, degree)
Scope	Geodesy.
Bounding box	-16.1° to 48.61° longitude, 25.71° to 84.73° latitude

Area of use

Europe - west: Andorra; Cyprus; Denmark - onshore and offshore; Faroe Islands - onshore; France - offshore; Germany - offshore North Sea; Gibraltar; Greece - offshore; Israel - offshore; Italy including San Marino and Vatican City State; Ireland offshore; Malta; Netherlands - offshore; North Sea; Norway including Svalbard - onshore and offshore; Portugal - mainland - offshore; Spain - onshore; Türkiye (Turkey) - onshore and offshore; United Kingdom - UKCS offshore east of 6°W including Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey). Egypt - Western Desert; Iraq - onshore; Jordan.

Example coordinates

A WGS 84 point at longitude 16.255°, latitude 55.22° (inside the area of use) has these coordinates in EPSG:4230:

Computed with PROJ using the EPSG default operation: unavailable until proj_trans is called.
Axis	Value	Unit
Longitude	16.256065	°
Latitude	55.220570	°

Open this conversion in the coordinate converter

Transformations to WGS 84

Candidate operations from the EPSG Dataset, best first as ranked by PROJ.
Operation	Accuracy	Area of use
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (1) + axis order change (2D)	10 m	Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; Faroe islands; France; Germany (west); Gibraltar; Greece; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (23) + axis order change (2D)	1 m	Norway - offshore north of 62°N. Also Svalbard - onshore and offshore.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (18) + axis order change (2D)	1 m	Denmark - offshore North Sea; Ireland - offshore; Netherlands - offshore; United Kingdom - UKCS offshore.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (2) + axis order change (2D)	6 m	Austria; Denmark; France; Germany (west); Netherlands; Switzerland.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to ETRS89 (1) + ETRS89 to WGS 84 (1) + axis order change (2D)	2 m	Norway - offshore north of 65°N. Also Svalbard.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (7) + axis order change (2D)	7 m	Finland and Norway - onshore.
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (17) + axis order change (2D)	2 m	France - onshore and offshore, mainland and Corsica (France métropolitaine including Corsica).
axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (3) + axis order change (2D)	999 m	Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria - onshore.

Transformations change the datum, so each has an accuracy and an area of use. Choose the most accurate one that covers your data and record its name. See datum transformations.

Grid-based operations not bundled with standard PROJ installs: ED50 to WGS 84 (41).

Definitions and downloads

PROJ string

+proj=longlat +ellps=intl +no_defs +type=crs

A PROJ string cannot carry every EPSG detail (axis order, datum ensemble, transformations). Prefer WKT2 or the EPSG code itself.

Proj4js definition used by the converter

+proj=longlat +ellps=intl +towgs84=-87,-98,-121 +no_defs

Datum shift from ED50 to WGS 84 (1) (EPSG accuracy 10 m), the best single Helmert operation for this area of use. Where PROJ prefers a grid-based or multi-step operation (see the table above), results can differ by up to that operation's accuracy.

WKT2:2019

GEOGCRS["ED50", DATUM["European Datum 1950", ELLIPSOID["International 1924",6378388,297, LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]], PRIMEM["Greenwich",0, ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]], CS[ellipsoidal,2], AXIS["geodetic latitude (Lat)",north, ORDER[1], ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]], AXIS["geodetic longitude (Lon)",east, ORDER[2], ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]], USAGE[ SCOPE["Geodesy."], AREA["Europe - west: Andorra; Cyprus; Denmark - onshore and offshore; Faroe Islands - onshore; France - offshore; Germany - offshore North Sea; Gibraltar; Greece - offshore; Israel - offshore; Italy including San Marino and Vatican City State; Ireland offshore; Malta; Netherlands - offshore; North Sea; Norway including Svalbard - onshore and offshore; Portugal - mainland - offshore; Spain - onshore; Türkiye (Turkey) - onshore and offshore; United Kingdom - UKCS offshore east of 6°W including Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey). Egypt - Western Desert; Iraq - onshore; Jordan."], BBOX[25.71,-16.1,84.73,48.61]], ID["EPSG",4230]]

Downloads

4230.prj — ESRI WKT for shapefiles
4230.wkt — OGC WKT2:2019

FAQ

What is EPSG:4230?

Where can EPSG:4230 be used?

Its area of use is: Europe - west: Andorra; Cyprus; Denmark - onshore and offshore; Faroe Islands - onshore; France - offshore; Germany - offshore North Sea; Gibraltar; Greece - offshore; Israel - offshore; Italy including San Marino and Vatican City State; Ireland offshore; Malta; Netherlands - offshore; North Sea; Norway including Svalbard - onshore and offshore; Portugal - mainland - offshore; Spain - onshore; Türkiye (Turkey) - onshore and offshore; United Kingdom - UKCS offshore east of 6°W including Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey). Egypt - Western Desert; Iraq - onshore; Jordan.

What is the axis order of EPSG:4230?

By the EPSG definition: Geodetic latitude, Geodetic longitude. Many GIS formats such as GeoJSON and KML store longitude first instead.

How accurate is the transformation from EPSG:4230 to WGS 84?

The most accurate EPSG transformation listed here is “axis order change (2D) + ED50 to WGS 84 (23) + axis order change (2D)”, with a stated accuracy of 1 m for Norway - offshore north of 62°N. Also Svalbard - onshore and offshore.. Always check the area of use before applying it.

Coordinate systems

Articles

Tools

References

IOGP. EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset, epsg.org/crs_4230.
PROJ 9.5.1 / pyproj 3.7.2, used to compute every value on this page.

Cite this page

GeoCAD Bridge. “EPSG:4230 — ED50.” GeoCAD Bridge EPSG Library, updated 2026-10-05. https://www.geocadbridge.com/epsg/4230/