United States National Grid (USNG) in Florida Erika Pittman, GIS Analyst

2 United States National Grid Lessons learned have taught us that standardized grids are needed for positional reporting. As far back as Hurricane Andrew, problems were recognized for emergency managers...

3 Florida Adopts the USNG USNG was officially adopted by the FFCA FDEM to adopt the USNG in the States CEMP Updates of GIS/Maps in the 11 Regional Evacuation Studies will include USNG grids Florida Fire College, Florida Fire Chiefs Association, FL National Guard to develop curriculum and instructor manuals FFC will be incorporating an intro module in the Firefighter II curriculum

4 What’s wrong with current systems? We already have… – Latitude/Longitude –Township/Range/Section – Street Address and Zip – UTM

5 Latitude/Longitude Multiple formats are confusing DD , DM , DMS 85 59’24.545”W, 30 16’20.063”N All the same location!!!

6 How far is a second anyway? What is the distance from… ’24.545”W, 30 16’20.063”N To here… ’26.292”W, 30 16’14.546”N

7 Township/Range/Section Township/Range/Section grid from the Public Lands Survey System is an important and good system… – basis of land ownership records – been in use for over 180 years

8 Township/Range/Section But a perfect section really doesn’t exist irregular in coastal areas too large to meet needs of ground crews

9 Street Address and Zip Problematic due to… – rural routes – post office boxes –House numbers missing or obscured

10 What do you do when the SIGNS are gone?

11 What do you do when the ROADS are gone?

12 Universal Transverse Mercator Measuring distances and obtaining positional accuracy has always been a challenge. European allies demonstrated the utility of grid-based conformal maps mapping their territory during the interwar period. Abbreviated as “UTM”

13 Calculating the distance between two points on these maps could be performed more easily in the field using the Pythagorean theorem instead of using trigonometric formulas required under the Latitude and Longitude system. UTM

14 UTM

15 The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth that is a practical application of a 2-dimensional rectangular coordinate system. It is used to identify locations on the earth, but differs from the traditional method of latitude and longitude in several respects.

16 The UTM system is not a single map projection. The system instead employs a series of sixty zones, each of which is based on a specifically defined secant transverse Mercator projection.

17 Developed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s A position on the Earth is referenced in the UTM system by the UTM zone, and the easting and northing coordinate pair. The easting is the projected distance of the position from the central meridian, while the northing is the projected distance of the point from the equator. 16R UTM

18 is the geocoordinate standard used by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for locating points on the earth. is derived from the UTM grid system, but uses a different labeling convention. Abbreviated as “MGRS” Military Grid Reference System

19 Uses a 2 to 10 character geocode – 2 digits implies precision of 10 km – 10 digits implies precision of 1 m – 100,000 m grids truncated and replaced with alpha-numeric grid 16R GU MGRS

20 It resembles the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS). When the WGS84 datum is used, USNG and MGRS coordinates are practically identical. 16R GU Abbreviated as “USNG” United States National Grid

21 USNG it has the advantage of being easily plotted on USGS topographic maps by using a simple "right and then up" method instead of having to plot from right to left when using latitude and longitude in the Western Hemisphere. The coordinates are also easily translated to distance since they are in meters. Thus the distance between two coordinates can quickly be determined in the field.

22 16R GU How to read USNG 100,000 Meter Grid – identification for regional areas Grid Coordinates – Easting and Northing position Grid Zone Designation – for a world-wide unique address, identifies the longitude zone number and the latitude band letter

23 16R GU R17R Truncate for locality just like you don’t have to dial an area code to make a local call… all Florida locations will be 16R or 17R

24 16R GU R17R Truncate for locality 100,000 meter zone designation may be dropped when working locally

25 Truncate for less precision… Locates within 1000 meters Locates within 10 meters Locates within 100 meters Locates within 1 meter 16R GU

26 USNG Easily scaleable Pin-point and cell based locational reporting “Grid within a Grid”

27 Global Positioning Systems I have GPS……..why do I need to care about any of this? – USNG can be used with GPS – GPS supplements USNG – USNG will work when your GPS won’t

28 USNG and GPS Most GPS units explicitly support USNG as an option for units If you choose USNG, you must also choose NAD 83 as your datum (or technically, you haven’t chosen USNG) You may also choose MGRS with NAD 83 to be the functional equivalent of USNG

29 USNG Sample Maps

30 Support for USNG –tools and instructions for GIS staff FDEM’s Incident Mapper –simple Google Maps mashup with USNG tools FDEP’s MapDirect –complex mapping tools with USNG support “Geo”PDF’s –new PDF formats have GIS capabilities, including USNG support

31 Support for USNG

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43 USNG in ArcGIS 9.1 USNG National Grid Tools Repackaging of… –Military Analyst –Product line tool set (PLTS) USNG Locational Toolbar Available from ArcScripts –Less complicated, easier to use

44 USNG in ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 Integrated… – Go to X,Y Tool – Identify –Graticules

45 Military Analyst in ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 USNG coordinates may easily be added to a feature class. NAR-C is proper NAD 83 choice - “North American Reference CONUS”

46 Military Analyst in ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 USNG coordinates added to a feature class.

47 Map Books in ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 DS Map Book (free extension to ArcMap Produce 4,000 m x 5, ” x 11” 1:24,000 scale maps Style guide, templates and video from Delta State University linked from dex.htm#mapbooks dex.htm#mapbooks

48 Guidance for building and using grids. Style Guide for using USNG in ArcGIS Downloadable grids

49 Map Books in ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 Sample county map book easily create in ArcMap

50 Map Books in ArcGIS 9.2/93 If you have a county wide map book (with USNG or not), please let us know for inclusion on our website

51 USNG in Other Applications Delorme’s XMAP GeoPDF Dolph Maps New USGS Quad Maps The National Map

52 Florida Geographic Data Library To host 1,000 meter and 100 meter grids for each Florida county

53 More information…

54 Erika Pittman Florida Division of Emergency Management