The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Grid

Map ProjectionsThe most convenient way to identifypoints on the curved surface of the Earthis with a system of reference lines calledparallels of latitude and meridians of lon-gitude. On some maps, the meridians andparallels appear as straight lines. On mostmodern maps, however, the meridians andparallels appear as curved lines. Thesedifferences are due to the mathematicaltreatment required to portray a curvedsurface on a flat surface so that importantproperties of the map (such as distanceand areal accuracy) are shown with mini-mum distortion. The system used to por-tray a part of the round Earth on a flatsurface is called a map simplify the use of maps and to avoidthe inconvenience of pinpointing loca-tions on curved reference lines, cartogra-phers superimpose on the map a rectangu-lar grid consisting of two sets of straight,parallel lines, uniformly spaced, each setperpendicular to the other. This grid isdesigned so that any point on the map canbe designated by its latitude and longitudeor by its grid coordinates, and a referencein one system can be converted into a ref-erence in another system .

lar grid consisting of two sets of straight, parallel lines, uniformly spaced, each set perpendicular to the other. This grid is designed so that any point on the map can be designated by its latitude and longitude or by its grid coordinates, and a reference in one system can be converted into a ref-erence in another system. Such grids are

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  Grid, System, Universal, Transverse, Mercator, Universal transverse mercator

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