  The initial descriptions of the FITS format provided a simplified method for
describing the physical coordinate values of the image pixels, but deliberately
did not specify any of the detailed conventions required to convey the
complexities of actual image coordinates. Building on conventions in wide use
within astronomy, this paper proposes general extensions to the original
methods for describing the world coordinates of FITS data. In subsequent
papers, we apply these general conventions to the methods by which spherical
coordinates may be projected onto a two-dimensional plane and to
frequency/wavelength/velocity coordinates.
