The ArcGIS PDF export process is a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) rendering process that snaps all drawing coordinates to an integer grid specified by the export resolution before being transformed into the PDF coordinate system. As a result, potential GeoRegistration--the projected coordinate system distance equivalent to the distance between GDI grid points--accuracy is limited by the map scale and export resolution.

The table below indicates the best possible accuracy of GeoRegistration given a map scale and a PDF export resolution. This calculation does not include any truncation of coordinate values when written in the PDF content stream. Adobe uses 32-bit floats when reading numeric values from the content stream, which limits the precision of the fractional part of a coordinate value to approximately five digits.

Field values are the distance between grid lines as meters in the map coordinate system.

To calculate for any arbitrary map scale and resolution, enter the values below:

Map Scale: 1,000.00000 1:x

Resolution: 6,400.00000 dpi

Distance: 0.00397 meters