We are happy to announce, that the official Military grid reference system is now available in the latest relase of DigiTerra Explorer. Please read this tutorial to learn how MGRS can be used in the software.
The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) 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 and the UPS (Universal Polar Stereographic) grid system, but uses a different labeling convention. The MGRS is used for the entire earth.An example of an MGRS coordinate, or grid reference, would be 4QFJ12345678, which consists of three parts:
- 4Q (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 with 10m resolution).
1.) First you need to tick the MGRS check-box at the bottom of the Settings > GPS tab
2.) When you connected to the receiver MGRS identifier appears at the bottom left corner on the GPS State panel. (31N AA 66021 00000 means the Easting = 0, Northing = 0 position)
3.) The MGRS identifier also appears on the map view at the top right corner and means the current GPS position regardless of the selected projection system of the current map
(Coordinates under the MGRS identifier shown the queried position from the map with the blue Identify tool)
4.) Currently you can query an MGRS identifier with the blue Identify tool only when your mapping project is in WGS84; the MGRS identifier is placed on the top right corner also.
(Coordinates under the MGRS identifier shown the queried WGS84 position from the map with the blue Identify tool, at the bottom right corner you can see the last GPS position in WGS84.)
5.) You can switch off the queried and the GPS coordinate display with the Display coordinates option on the Settings > Map tab. In that case only the MGRS identifier shown.
6.) MGRS identifier can be recorded into the attribute table by adding a new Data field with the new "MGRS" default as you can see it below: Default value, recorder MGRS on the Record panel and on the Form panel
II: How to use MGRS in navigation?
1. Connect to the GPS receiver on the GPS State panel (A) after you have ticked the MGRS option on the GPS settings panel
or
(B) select the Navigate to Target tool in the menu and then tap anywhere on the screen to activate the GPS receiver
2. Tap and hold the stylus on the screen to open the Target dialog box.
3. Tap on the MGRS identifier you can see under the "Height above ellipsoid" and enter a new MGRS identifier to relocate the position of the target.
NOTE: this MGRS identifier means the tapped position on the map
NOTE: Displayed units of the Navigate to Target tool can be changed on the Settings > Record > Length unit
