Unproject x-y coordinates to latitude-longitude coordinates by specifying the projected CRS of the x-y coordinates. Then, display the latitude-longitude coordinates on geographic axes.

To do this, first import a shapefile containing the x- and y-coordinates of roads in Concord, MA. Get information about the shapefile as a structure. Find the projected CRS for the coordinates by accessing the CoordinateReferenceSystem field of the structure.

roads = shaperead('concord_roads.shp');
x = [roads.X];
y = [roads.Y];
info = shapeinfo('concord_roads.shp');
proj = info.CoordinateReferenceSystem;

Unproject the x-y coordinates to latitude-longitude coordinates.

[lat,lon] = projinv(proj,x,y);

Display the coordinates on geographic axes.

figure
geoplot(lat,lon)
hold on
geobasemap('streets')

The geographic CRS of the x-y coordinates used in this example is NAD83. You can find the geographic CRS that underlies a projected CRS by querying the GeographicCRS property.

proj.GeographicCRS.Name

ans = 
"NAD83"

The geographic CRS underlying the 'streets' basemap is WGS84. NAD83 and WGS84 are similar, but not identical. Therefore, at high zoom levels the coordinates and basemap may appear misaligned.