What is the difference between Military Grid and Latitude/Longitude?
The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)[1] is the geocoordinate standard used by NATO militaries for locating points on the earth. The MGRS is derived from the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) grid system, but uses a different labeling convention. The MGRS is used for the areas of the earth between 84N to 80S, and 180W to 180E. In the polar regions, MGRS is based on the Universal Polar Stereographic system. An example of an MGRS coordinate, or grid reference, would be 04QFJ12345678, which consists of three parts: * 04Q (grid zone designator, GZD), * FJ (the 100,000-meter square identifier), and * 12345678 (numerical location; easting is 1234 and northing is 5678, in this case specifying a location within a 10m square). An MGRS grid reference does not describe a point on the Earth’s surface, but rather a square area of 10 km × 10 km, 1 km × 1 km, 100 m × 100 m, 10 m × 10 m or 1 m × 1 m, depending on the precision of the coordinates provided. (In some cases, squares adjacent to a Gr
