EPSG:4326 vs EPSG:25832 — WGS 84 vs ETRS89 / UTM 32N
EPSG:4326 (WGS 84) is global longitude/latitude in degrees — the default for interchange, GeoJSON and GPS. EPSG:25832 (ETRS89 / UTM zone 32N) is the projected grid in meters used across Germany and central Europe between 6°E and 12°E. The datums (WGS 84 and ETRS89) agree to within a few centimeters, but the units and numbers are entirely different: degrees versus meters. You'd choose 4326 to keep data portable and global, and 25832 to measure distance or area in meters or to match German official datasets. Moving between them is a reprojection, not a relabel.
| Property | EPSG:4326 | EPSG:25832 |
|---|---|---|
| EPSG code | EPSG:4326 | EPSG:25832 |
| Name | WGS 84 | ETRS89 / UTM zone 32N |
| Type | Geographic | Projected |
| Units | degrees | metres |
| Datum | WGS 84 | ETRS89 |
| Area of use | Worldwide | Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (between 6°E and 12°E) |
| proj4 | +proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +no_defs | +proj=utm +zone=32 +ellps=GRS80 +towgs84=0,0,0,0,0,0,0 +units=m +no_defs |
When to use EPSG:4326
Use EPSG:4326 for global, web, and interchange use — GeoJSON, APIs, GPS — and whenever portability matters more than metric measurement in one zone.
When to use EPSG:25832
Use EPSG:25832 to align with German and central-European official data and to measure in meters within the 6°E–12°E UTM zone, where the projection keeps distances and areas near-true.
Converting between EPSG:4326 and EPSG:25832 is a reprojection, not a relabel. Convert and reproject a file or detect your CRS.
Frequently asked questions
Should I store my German data in EPSG:4326 or EPSG:25832?
Store in 25832 if you need metric measurement or must match official German data; store in 4326 for portability, web maps and global interchange. Many teams keep an authoritative 25832 copy and export 4326 GeoJSON for sharing.
Is converting 4326 to 25832 lossy?
Reprojection is mathematically reversible to high precision, so it's not meaningfully lossy. The main caveat is staying inside the zone's valid extent (6°E–12°E); far outside it, UTM 32N distortion grows.
Do I need a datum transformation between WGS 84 and ETRS89?
Only for centimeter-accurate work. ETRS89 and WGS 84 were coincident in 1989 and differ by a few tens of centimeters today, so for most mapping the datum step is negligible and only the UTM projection matters.
Why does my web map need 4326 but my survey data is 25832?
Web and GeoJSON tooling defaults to WGS 84 degrees (4326), while German survey and cadastral data is authored in the metric national grid (25832). Reproject 25832 to 4326 before loading it into a degree-based web map.