UTM is a series of Transverse Mercator projection based grids at 6 degree intervals circling the world. Each one has the same false origin of 500,000 E 10,000,000 N for the southern hemisphere. (ESRI forgot us down here in ArcView 3). Because New Zealand spans three zones they are not suitable as a National projection to replace NZMG because it is not a common frame of reference covering NZ.

GPS Future: What improvements are coming our way in the next 3, 5, 10 years? Answers here (.doc file)

MGRS is just a special format for describing UTM coordinates. So the simple answer is that they are the same coordinate system. UTM coordinates are specified as Zone Number, Meters East (the easting), and Meters North (the northing). MGRS uses a Zone, A 2 letter code to indicate a 100km square, and an easting and northing value. Then the numeric easting and northing are abbreviated. See this link for details.

The program strives to have at least 30 percent of each student's mark be related to intellectual and scholarly projects that incorporate new media technology. At this early point in the VCC program, most of these projects concern web-based projects, though the nature of the technology component depends upon the specific interests and expertise of the faculty member.

You will want to go into the setup menus for your GPS and look for menus like "Navigation" and "Position Format". You should find a menu that gives you choices like: MGRS UTM/UPS USER UTM GRID hdd.ddddd hddd mm.mmm hddd mm ss.s

Some other countries in out of the way parts of the world have used coordinate systems that are UTM like, but not lined up with the standard UTM zone scheme. By determining values for Longitude Origin, Scale, False Easting, and False Northing, the GPS can usually display these coordinate systems.

The UTM accuracy is an important factor to consider in the geographic query. All Element Occurrences are assigned a level of accuracy for the Easting and Northing data. The descriptions of the accuracy codes are listed in the table below.

To export a projected raster project to a vector file in Didger 2.05, select all the digitized objects and go to File | Export. In the Export dialog box, check the check box in the lower left next to Selected Objects Only and export as normal. Exporting to a DAT file was a problem in earlier versions of Didger 2 (versions 2.00 and 2.01) when calibrated coordinates increase from right to left on the X axis, increase downwards on the Y axis, or one of the axes was logarithmic in scale.

Usually this means the grid you are trying to align the tool with is not a UTM grid. The most frequent confusion come from the public land survey section lines. On a USGS 1:24,000 scale map they are dashed red lines, with red section numbers in the center, they roughly define a 1 mile grid. See this FAQ answer for some hints on locating the UTM grid marks.

For the most part the information is the same. In a few places the booklet goes into more detail. The major difference is in packaging. The booklet provides a nice compact portable high resolution version of the information.

The UTM grid lines are aligned with true north at the center of each utm zone, which would have an easting value of 500km. As you move away from the central meridian, grid north, will vary a bit from true north. Most USGS topo maps will show the value for grid north (labeled GN) on their declination diagram. Usually it's less than a degree off of true north, and many folks ignore the difference and use the UTM grid lines as true north reference for plotting compass bearings.

Nope. You have to first go to Geodetic Cooordinates, perform a Datum Shift in Geocentric Coordinates with either a 3-parameter or a 7-parameter transformation, then transform back to Geodetic Coordinates, then to whatever Grid system you want on the new Datum. There are a number of "free" packages that can do this for you without the need to bother with the details if your accuracy requirements will tolerate a black-box transform.

Didger 2 from Golden Software converts data and boundary files between 21 different projections, including Unprojected Latitude/Longitude and UTM. The 16-bit versions of Windows use a coordinate system that limits the maximum paper size. The 32-bit versions of Windows (NT) do not have this limitation. There are several ways to work around the problem: To print a map on 24"x 40" paper at a scale of 1.0 in. = 1.

This was not invented by me. This is the UTM standard. Garmin receivers use exactly the same format but some other programs don't. The option "System, Unit for metric coordinates, UTM: add missing zero" will add this leading zero if you forget it. This option is enabled by default. You should disable it when working with fixed UTM zones at locations exceeding the selected zone. In this case it may happen that the leading digit is nonzero. The decimal point is only a reading aid.

When using vpDiGuy and vpNet together, a bug prevents the UTM origin from being set correctly. Resetting the coordinate system works around the problem. To reset the coordinate conversions, turn off coordinate conversions and then turn them on again after starting active preview.

Q19. I digitize my map and set the display and calibration units as Lat/Long, but when I export my map the units are in meters! Q20. I am having a problem printing ("Out of global memory" error, only a portion of the map prints, etc.).

Don't align your grid tool with the edges of the map, called neat lines, they are NOT UTM grid lines in most cases. Line your grid up with the UTM Grid lines. When you are near the edge of the map, a portion of the grid may be off the map and you may need to use the value of a grid line that is not visible as the base of your coordinate measurement. The maps and coordinates in the tutorials are fictional and are not intended to represent real locations.

Yes, if you have the approximate coordinates of the site, you can retrieve the data sheet of a nearby survey station with this information on it. The DATA SHEET PAGE will enable you to retrieve a data sheet for the area or point you are seeking. NGS also offers an interactive service as part of the Geodetic Tool Kit to perform this function for individual points.