Title: What are grid and coordinates systems
Headings: Map Reading – What are grid and coordinates systems?
Map Reading – What are grid and coordinates systems?
Coordinate Systems
Geographic Coordinate Systems (GCS)
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
A couple more points
Wrap up

Content: I know this sounds very tricky, but I’ll try to explain. I think the north/south split is simple. It means that a point in the northern hemisphere can be a maximum of 9,300,000m and in the south 10,000,000m. The east/west split is also simple if we look at each zone as just one part – east only. For simplicity, the west line is moved 500,000m so that there is only one direction to deal with (false easting). So, back to my pub – it is in zone 30 (most of England), 5,709,547m North (of the equator), 701,708m East (from the false easting). That is it for UTM, I hope you got that, as it is very tricky but the more you use it, the easier it becomes. A couple more points
Just a point to mention – along these lines, there are the USA quadrangle maps that use 7.5 minutes grid (unlike the 60 minutes system in the GSC) , the OS national grid (UK) that uses Transverse Mercator Projection like the UTM but only for the UK, and many others. It is important to check which grid system your map is using, especially if combined with a GPS device. Wrap up
Way to go for making it to the end!