Using the National Grid

1 TheNationalGridprovidesauniquereferencesystem,whichcanbeappliedtoallOrdnanceSurveymapsofGreatBritain,atallscales.

2 GreatBritainiscoveredby100kilometregridsquares,eachgridsquareisidentifiedbytwoletters,asshownindiagram A.

UsingtheNationalGrid

3 OnOrdnanceSurveymapsthesesquaresarefurtherdividedintosmallersquaresbygridlinesrepresenting10kilometrespacing,eachnumberedfrom0to9fromthesouth-westcorner,inaneasterly(lefttoright)andnortherly(upwards)direction,asshownindiagram B.

4 Usingthissystemyoucanidentifya10kilometregridsquare.Forexample,hereisTL63.Afterthelettersyouquotetheeastings(6)first,thenthenorthings(3).Ifyouhavetroubleremembering,say…

Stairs the Up Alongthehall,THEN

5 OnOSLandrangerMapsyoucanfindthetwogridlettersTLonthelegend,oronthecornerofthemap,andthegridhasbeenfurtherdividedinto1kilometreintervals,asshownindiagram C.Youcanestimatedistancesbetweenthegridlinestogiveamoreprecisereference.

6 Turnthepageandseehoweasyitistousea6-figuregridreferencetopinpointaplaceonthemap…

UsingtheNationalGridcontinued

The6-figuregridreference

7 The6-figuregridreferenceisveryusefultolocateaparticularplaceonamap.

8 Byestimatingtheeastingsandnorthingstoonetenthofthegridinterval,youcanspecifyafull6-figuregridreference,accuratetowithin100metresontheground.

9 Allyoudoisestimatehowmanytenthsawayfromthegridyourpointfalls.Forinstance,thepointindiagram Dis3tenthseastofgrid62and7tenthsnorthofgrid31.

10Onceagain,readingfromthesouth-westcorner,quotealltheeastingsfirst,thenthenorthings.The100-metregridreferenceofthepointinthediagramisshownlikethis:TL623317.

11Hereisanextractfroma1:50000scalemap.UsetheNationalGridreferencesystemtofind:

The Church at TL683365 The Windmill at TL726350 Mill Farm at TL701352

General enquiries: +44 (0)8456 05 05 05Textphone: +44 (0)23 8079 2906 (Deaf and hard of hearing users only please)

customerservices@ordnancesurvey.co.ukwww.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Published by Ordnance Survey, Romsey Road, SOUTHAMPTON, SO16 4GU.Ordnance Survey, the OS Symbol, OS and Landranger are registered trademarks of Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency of Great Britain.