U.S. National Grid Resources

The U.S. National Grid Standard has been approved as a Minnesota state standard.  USNG Maps are available statewide.  See a USNG overview brochure.

USNG Location Marker Proposal, v2.3 draft -- public review complete for this version.

The USNG is an effort to interlock GIS, GPS and the basic hand map in a way that creates a uniform, easy-to-use methodology for quickly geo-locating points with a high degree of accuracy. It has been endorsed by FEMA, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, and several other major organizations with an interest in geospatial awareness during disasters.

The items below were compiled by the Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC) to promote interest and understanding of the U.S. National Grid.

National Articles  |  MN Articles  |  Support Letters  |  Implementation  |  Training Lectures  |  Training Materials  |  Search & Rescue  |  National Tools  |  MN Tools  |  Cartographic Stuff  |  Map Reading & Grids

National background articles

• FGDC's USNG Executive Summary (1 p., 21K, PDF)
• Which Way to National Grid? Jessica Sperlongano, April 6, 2006. Article on lessons from Hurricane Katrina (2 p., 627K, PDF)
• New Kind of Map Could Help Emergency Response, National Public Radio piece, March 4, 2006
• Introducing the United States National Grid, Mike Price, Summer 2005 (2 p., 337K, PDF)
• Florida to Adopt the United States National Grid (USNG), Florida State Fire Marshall, 2005
• Where Is It? (USNG Article 2 of 2), Tom Terry, FGDC, November 2004 (3 p., 672K, PDF)
• The United States National Grid, (USNG Article 1 of 2), Tom Terry, FGDC, October 2004 (5 p., 1.8 MB, PDF)
• Get on the National Grid, Pat West, Senior Editor, Fire Chief Magazine, July 20, 2004

Minnesota background articles

• GIS 101: An Introduction to the National Grid, Randy Knippel, Dakota County, Summer 2008, pp. 3-5
• Desktop GIS: The National Grid Wants You!, Todd Lusk, Dakota County, Winter 2009, pp. 1-2
• Edina Engineering Technician Makes Breakthrough On Map Scale, Gains National Attention, Marty Doll, Winter 2009 (pp. 30-33)

Letters of recommendation/support

• CJCSI 3900.01C Position Reference Procedures of 30 June 2007, (Reviewed July 2008). This document provides guidance to the Armed Forces on how to reference positions. Paragraph 4.a.(2) addresses the role of the FGDC's USNG standard for the Armed Forces in support of homeland security and homeland defense. (12 p., 100K, PDF)
• Geospatial Information and Technology Association Letter of Support, July 3, 2007 (2 p., 44K, PDF)

Other implementation efforts

• Federal Geographic Data Committee
• Florida Division of Emergency Management
• Delta State University (Mississippi, USNG grant holder from USGS)
• North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council
• Missouri Geographic Information Systems Advisory Committee
• US National Grid (USNG) Implementation Discussion Points, Tom Terry, FGDC, Jan 27, 2006 (1 p., 19K, PDF)
   

Training lectures

• USNG Presentation for AMEM 2009, Steve Swazee (69 slides, 71 MB, PPT)
• How to Read and Use USNG Coordinates, Tom Terry (33 slides, 28.7 MB, PPT)
• Understanding and Implementing Mapping and the US National Grid for Emergency Services, Talbot Brooks (59 slides, 26.5 MB, PPT)
• USNG Backgrounder, Tom Terry (59 slides, 4.3 MB, PDF)
• USNG Backgrounder Plus More, Tom Terry (72 slides, 5.4 MB, PPT)
• USNG in Florida, Richard Butgereit (34 slides, 3.0 MB, Power Point)
• USNG Presentation for Sherburne CERT, Steve Swazee (89 slides, 64.2 MB, PPT)
   

Training support materials

(WARNING – Do not use the “auto rotate”, “scale to fit”, “print to fit” or any similar feature of your printer when printing the grid reader or training maps below. Those printer features will destroy the accuracy and utility of the training items!)

• Basic Instructions for USNG Teaching Kit (1 p., 28K, Word doc)
• FGDC info sheets
  • Sheet 1: Read right then up (1 p., 164K, PDF)
  • Sheet 2: World wide context (1 p., 196K, PDF)
  • Sheet 3: Reading USNG Coordinates: Using a coordinate scale (1 p., 188K, PDF)
  • Sheet 4: The US National Grid (USNG): A Simple and Powerful Geospatial Tool (1 p., 77K, PDF)
  • Sheets 4 and 1: (2 p., 235K, PDF)
• Grid reader template (1 p., 140K, PDF)
• Gulf training map (2 p., 3.2 MB, PDF)
• Washington, DC and vicinity demo map (1 p., 849K, PDF)
• Washington, DC demo map (1 p., 487K, PDF)
• Washington, DC practice points (1 p., 8K, PDF)
   

Search and Rescue Responder Information

• Catastrophic Incident Search and Rescue Addendum to the National Search and Rescue Manual, Version 2.0 of Nov 2009, see Geo-referencing, pp 112-119. (2.57 MB, PDF)
• Land Search and Rescue Addendum to the National Search and Rescue Manual, Version 1.0 of Nov 2011, see Geo-referencing, pp 4-43 thru 4-51. (5.68 MB, PDF)
• United States Coast Guard’s Georeferencing Information for SAR Responders
   

National USNG Mapping Related Systems and Tools

• Delta State University Mississippi USNG Tools
• Florida Incident Mapper with USNG
• National Map USNG Coordinates Display (click on the "Options" icon -- a small cog wheel shape to the left of "Help" in the upper right -- to change the coordinate display to USNG)
• NGA Geographic Translator (GEOTRANS) Tool
• NGA MGRS grid zone and 100K polygons
• U.S. Geodetic Survey USNG, UTM, and Latitude/Longitude Conversion Tool
• USGS GeoPDF Topographic Map Download using USNG
  • TerraGo Toolbar (Free)  formerly known as "GeoPDF Toolbar"
• USNG Zone Index Map (1.6 MB, PDF)
• USNG to Google Map Tool
   

Minnesota USNG Mapping Related Systems and Tools

• Minnesota USNG Maps
• Dakota County GIS System With USNG Maps (Click here for instructions - 1 p., 7K, PDF)
• Dakota County USNG Fire Maps and Map Books
• Dakota County Street Address to USNG Tool
• Edina City USNG Fire Atlas (24.3 MB, PDF)
• Example Dakota County 1:6000 Scale, 8.5” x 11”, USNG 1 Kilometer Grid (334K, PDF)
• Example Dakota County 1:24,000 Scale, 24” x 36”, USNG Quarter Quadrangle (5.8 MB, PDF)
• I-35W Bridge Collapse with USNG Overlay (15.6 MB, PDF)
• St. Paul GISmo System with USNG
   

Stuff for Cartographers

• ESRI USNG Tools for Cartographers
• FGDC USNG Standard (43 p., 1 MB, PDF)
• Grid Zone Junction Presentation (11 slides, 2.2MB, PDF)
• Introducing the USNG
• Style instructions: An Interim Style Guide for the USNG, with ArcGIS applications, v. 1.11 (16 p., 1.2 MB, PDF)

General Information on Map Reading and Grids

• Military Map Reading 201, NGA (10 p., 419K, PDF)
• Map Reading and Land Navigation, Chapter 4, U.S. Army FM3-25.26C (33 p., 1.3 MB, PDF)
• Map Reading and Navigation, Emergency Management Australia (96 p., 5.5 MB, PDF)
• Reading Topographic Maps

The EPC does not endorse any commercial products which may appear in files referenced here. All information has been provided for educational purposes only.

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