What is the United States National Grid ?
US National Grid
The United States National Grid (USNG) is a point reference system of grid references commonly used in the United States It provides a nationally consistent language of location in a user friendly format. It is similar in design to the Military Grid Reference System used throughout other nations. The USNG was developed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee.
Minnesota was one of the first states to start to incorporate the USNG into its GIS infrastructure. You will find it in the BWCA at trail points on blue signs, telling visitors their current location, to law enforcement and EMS dispatches that was USNG as part of the dispatching system.
It use to be that we were requested to convert our data into the USNG format by the agency having jurisdiction (AHJ), but now we are getting initial search data from the AHJ already using the USNG format, so we need to be able to continue our part of the search efforts using USNG.
Minnesota was one of the first states to start to incorporate the USNG into its GIS infrastructure. You will find it in the BWCA at trail points on blue signs, telling visitors their current location, to law enforcement and EMS dispatches that was USNG as part of the dispatching system.
It use to be that we were requested to convert our data into the USNG format by the agency having jurisdiction (AHJ), but now we are getting initial search data from the AHJ already using the USNG format, so we need to be able to continue our part of the search efforts using USNG.
Apps
We have been working with local GIS professionals on solutions that help the SAR community move to this coordinate system that is poorly supported in the general map software and app community.
The current result is an app that is very easy to use. In the current version you simply tap on the main screen and then you can send your USNG location in an email or a text, just two of the options available (the information is also saved to your clipboard) and it will contain a link that the receiver can quickly display on a map. The app is called “MyUSNG” and is available for Android & IOS systems. We will continue to work with the developer on enhancements to this app. |
MyUSNGDeveloped by Esri Online LLC
Link below: |
What is the United States National Grid ?Wikipedia
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