Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate System

Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate System

The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) geographic coordinate system uses a 2-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system to give locations on the surface of the Earth. It is a horizontal position representation, i.e. it is used to identify locations on the Earth independently of vertical position, but differs from the traditional method of latitude and longitude in several respects.

The UTM system is not a single map projection. The system instead divides the Earth into sixty zones, each a six-degree band of longitude, and uses a secant transverse Mercator projection in each zone.

Read more about Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate System:  History, Latitude Bands, Locating A Position Using UTM Coordinates

Famous quotes containing the words universal and/or system:

    The appetite for power, even for universal power, is only insane when there is no possibility of indulging it; a man who sees the possibility opening before him and does not try to grasp it, even at the risk of destroying himself and his country, is either a saint or a mediocrity.
    Simone Weil (1909–1943)

    There are obvious places in which government can narrow the chasm between haves and have-nots. One is the public schools, which have been seen as the great leveler, the authentic melting pot. That, today, is nonsense. In his scathing study of the nation’s public school system entitled “Savage Inequalities,” Jonathan Kozol made manifest the truth: that we have a system that discriminates against the poor in everything from class size to curriculum.
    Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)