Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Grid System divides the earth into 60 zones, running north and south, each 6' wide. Each zone is numbered, beginning with zone 1 at the 180th meridian near the International Date Line, with zone numbers increasing to the east. Most of the United States is included in Zones 10 through 19, as shown below. On a map, each zone is flattened, and a square grid is superimposed upon it. Any point in the zone may be referred to by citing its zone number, its distance in meters from the equator ("northing"), and its distance in meters from a north‐south reference line ("easting"). These three figures‐the zone number, easting, and northing‐make up the complete UTM Grid Reference for any point, and distinguish it from any point on earth.

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