# MAP question



## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

So since there are several FEMA members etc.

You guys switched over the NGRS or still using UTMs?

6 of one half a dozen of the other - our state police use D M.M which is a PITA.

I am almost thinking of swtiching us over to NGRS because people still manage to screw it up when reading an 8 digit UTM off of a GPS and NGRS is a little easier to read off a GPS


----------



## Daryl Ehret (Apr 4, 2006)

Talbot Brooks (SAR) led the workshops that helped NC adopt the USNG as the state standard in 2007.
Implementing the Standard for the US National Grid in North Carolina

_"The simple linear increments of USNG has shown itself to require less training time to master and produces feweroperator errors than the more complex angular increments of latitude and longitude – such that the USNG be effectively taught at the 5th grade level."_USNG Fact Sheet

Useful links and resources at Federal Geographical Data Committee (FGDC) -United States National Grid 

The Army Corps of Engineers, Topographic Engineering Center (TEC), offers a free software that will convert between the various coordinates systems, called Corpscon ver.6.


----------



## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Oh I am totally up with what NGRS is. SAR folks have been using UTM though for years so Just wondering if people have been moving over the NGRS instead. ..

NGRS is actually the same as UTM with a twist -

Here are coordinates for the same location

UTM 17s*04*011148E *38*77521N
NGRS 17sMU0114877521

So the digits in the UTM easting and northing:

04 and 38 simply translate to block MU in the NGRS system 

--------

We use Maptech Terrain Navigator Pro for our printed maps so NGRS is an option though it is not for some other mapping SW [such as using google earth or mapsource or topoofusion on the fly] .....and GPS units can use it as well.

So the upside is unique ID of blocks anywhere (within a UTM zone, the numbers repeat but the NGRS grids are unique but that does not matter for local wilderness tuff)......Easier to call out 

BUT

The downside is a lot of mapping SW is not up to date which can be a problem when you are doing things on the fly because any manual conversion can cause mistakes and using a converter would still require transcription {like I said NOT an issue for us because we use TNP}


----------



## mel boschwitz (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm not FEMA but a few weeks ago I was sent to a search manager type class (for all searches, not just canine) put on by FEMA/DHS and they taught NGRS. But they also said that the jurisdiction in charge has final say so on what is used.


----------



## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Absolutely - we set the units and our mapping SW to work in two coordinate systems - typically the UTM we use and the D M.M that the state police want.

I can only think of ONE search in the past 7 years (and we do about 30 a year) where we were provided maps that had a coordinate system on them which would make the usable for land nav, and they were NGRS and it was easy enough to adjust to because it is just a variant of UTM and MGRS which are all basically the same.

But our state police still work on D M.M so we translate for them [so far, we have only had one other search where we have not been able to have the field K9 folks relate to a K9 leader who was the liaison with the incidient IC]


----------

