How to Place USNG on a Map Online

MapGridder puts a live USNG grid on an interactive map of any US area. Switch the grid to USNG and read the US National Grid coordinate of any point, like 18S UJ 2347 0648 for the Washington Monument. Pick the precision from 100 km squares to 1 m, then print a sheet at a real scale for your search area.

Open the USNG map

What you can do

Live USNG grid on any US area that stays aligned while you pan and zoom
Precision from 100 km squares down to 1 meter
Type or paste a USNG coordinate, with or without spaces, to find it on the map
Print a map sheet at a real scale, on desktop or mobile

Topographic map of the Bear Lake trailhead area in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado in MapGridder, with Dream Lake, Lake Haiyaha and the Glacier Gorge and Fern Lake trails under a 1 km USNG grid, every square labelled with its reference from 13T DE 43 61 to 13T DE 46 63. — A 1 km USNG grid over the Bear Lake trails in Rocky Mountain National Park.

How do I place USNG on a map online?

The grid draws in your browser over any US area, with no setup file and no GIS software to learn. Five steps take you from an empty map to a printed sheet.

Open the map.
Switch the grid to USNG.
Pick the precision: 1 km for a search area, 100 m or 10 m for a single point.
Pan to your area, or type a USNG coordinate or a place name to jump there.
Export the view as a PDF to print a sheet with the grid lines and labels on it.

How do I read a USNG coordinate?

A USNG reference grows by one digit pair for every tenfold step in precision. The grid zone and the two-letter 100 km square come first. Every pair of digits after them, one for easting and one for northing, narrows the square by ten. The table reads one point, the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, at each precision.

Reference	Digits	Square size	Pins down
18S UJ	0	100 km	The Washington, DC region
18S UJ 2 0	2	10 km	Downtown Washington and the National Mall
18S UJ 23 06	4	1 km	The monument grounds, one grid square on a 1:24,000 map
18S UJ 234 064	6	100 m	The monument and the plaza around it
18S UJ 2347 0648	8	10 m	The monument itself
18S UJ 23478 06483	10	1 m	One square meter of it

Worked example: Washington Monument, 38.8895 N, 77.0353 W, is 18S UJ 2347 0648 at 10 m precision.

18S is the grid zone, UJ the 100 km square.
2347 is the easting: 23,470 m east of the square's south-west corner.
0648 is the northing: 6,480 m north of it.
Four digits each side name one 10 m square.
Never round. Truncate, so the digits you keep still name the square the point is in.
Inside one 100 km square, local radio traffic can drop the zone (UJ 2347 0648) or the letters as well (2347 0648).

Topographic map of Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins, Colorado in MapGridder, under a 1 km USNG grid labelled 13T DE 85 87 to 13T DE 87 90, with the Grid panel set to USNG at 1 km and the live reference 13T DE 8543 8937 in the USNG coordinate readout. — Any point on the map reads as a full USNG reference, ready to pass over the radio.

Is USNG the same as MGRS?

Yes, for anything you do on a map. USNG and MGRS use the same grid zones, the same 100 km square letters and the same digits, so one point has one reference in both. Three things differ. USNG covers only the US and its territories. It is written with spaces (18S UJ 2347 0648, not 18SUJ23470648). And it sits on the NAD83 datum instead of WGS84, which are 1 to 2 m apart in the lower 48, far less than the 10 m you read off a map. So the grid on this page is a USNG grid.

Who requires USNG?

FEMA adopted USNG as its standard for land operations in 2015 (Directive 092-5). Four years earlier the National Search and Rescue Committee had already made it the primary coordinate system for land search and rescue, with lat/long in degrees and decimal minutes as the backup. The grid itself is a federal standard, FGDC-STD-011-2001. In practice that means SAR teams, CERT volunteers, fire departments and emergency managers work in USNG. Minnesota, Florida and Iowa run statewide USNG programs, and trail emergency markers in counties like Cobb County, Georgia carry USNG references.

Sources: FEMA Directive 092-5 (2015, PDF), NSARC Land SAR Addendum (2011, PDF), FGDC United States National Grid standard, USNG Institute directives and endorsements

How do I print a USNG map sheet for my area?

Export the view as a PDF at a real scale, with the grid lines and labels printed on the sheet. 1:25,000 sits closest to a 1:24,000 USGS quad, and 1:50,000 or 1:100,000 cover a wider search area. It works the same on desktop and mobile.

Frequently asked questions

Is USNG the same as MGRS?

For map work, yes. Both use the same grid zones, the same 100 km square letters and the same easting and northing digits, so a point has one reference in both. USNG is defined on NAD83 rather than WGS84, about 1 to 2 m apart in the continental US, and writes the reference with spaces.

Is the USNG map free?

For personal use, yes. The grid runs in your browser with no login and no install. A quick sign-in is only needed to export a sheet or to save maps to your account. Personal and non-commercial use is free; commercial use needs a paid license.

Can I type a USNG coordinate to find it on the map?

Yes. Type or paste a full reference such as 18S UJ 2347 0648, with or without spaces and with or without a USNG label, and the map centers on it. A shortened reference, such as UJ 2347 0648 or 2347 0648, resolves in the square nearest the area on screen.

Which datum does the grid use?

The grid is drawn on WGS84. USNG is defined on NAD83, and the two differ by about 1 to 2 m in the continental US, well below the 10 m precision anyone reads off a map, so the references you read are USNG references.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes. The map and the grid work in mobile browsers, the grid redraws as you pan and zoom, and you can export a sheet from your phone too.