Lat/Lon MGRS UTM

If you've ever read a map, you notice a series of numbers around the edges. This is the grid scale and digitizes the grid of the map to correspond to a spot on the groud. So, when you know the grid number of the spot on the ground, you can find it when looking at a map. Simple, no?

Actually, no. Complicated as hell. I was raised using the MGRS (Military Grid Recognition System) which our Army uses to find the way, to navigate. I learned the MGRS in 1973 and used it almost exclusively for 30 years.

Common civilian maps are marked in Latitude and Longitude, which is the standard worldwide for civil navigation. Ptolemy first used it in mapping in 150 A.D. The English changed it later, running the 0 meridian (the prime meridan) through London. Latitude and Longitude are mapped using degrees, minutes and seconds. The problem is that a round Earth doesn't translate well on a flat map. Everything is measured as being so many degrees east and west of London, and north or south of the equator. Ancient mariners have been using this system for years, and the practice has been passed to the present day. Like most navy systems, it's screwed up. The distances on a lat/lon map change when you get away from the equator.

One degree of latitude equals 60 nautical miles at the equator. When you get to either pole, all of the lines of longitude converge to a single point. You can cover them with your foot. That, children is a screwed up system. Yet, it's the system that is used by the majority of the world. I'll learn to use it, and be happy with it.

Last night, I was trying to give my buddy Junior, some coordinates to a deer camp. It is located, roughly, at 31 degrees, 41 minutes, 34 seconds North, 92 degrees, 12 minutes, 49 seconds West. Hopefully, you can see the map here.

We emailed back and forth trying to get the numbers to read into a particular mapping system. It seems that someone took the Lat/Lon system that everyone has been reading since Ptolemy and digitized it. The degree side is still intact, but the minute/second series of numbers has been digitized. We've managed to mix the two systems to make it totally unintuitive. This is totally screwed up. It is neither english, nor french. It is neither metric nor standard. It is probably nautical.

The problem is that we now have Global Positioning systems. Wander through any good sporting goods store and you'll see a selection based on features, ruggedness, and usage. We have these things in tanks, humvees, and your family car. Sportsmen carry them in their pockets. They use different mapping grids. It's confusing.

We need one standard, one grid, that covers the whole globe. Whatever it is, it should be universally adopted and used on all maps, all computer programs, all GPS devices. One system for the world. The power players in the mapping community need to get together and decide which system we are going to use, and relegate the other systems to the trash heap. If you need a name for it, call it the PawPaw system. That rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn't it?