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ssambros | 6 years ago

With it's pros being the ability to know how close the points are just having the 2 coordinates and arbitrary precision.

Who knows how far away epic.region.music and epic.global.music are from just the names? While 18SUJ2163104440 and 12SVC0452723150 are 6 grid zones apart east to west.

discuss

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9nGQluzmnq3M|6 years ago

That's a handy property for the 3 people on Earth who have the algorithm behind it memorized, but the rest of the world would prefer to be able to easily read, write and share the codes.

AWildC182|6 years ago

The algorithm is absolutely trivial -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Grid_Reference_System

It's actually quite pleasant to use and allows you to just truncate to the level of precision you want. S/He just posted the 1m resolution string when 18-SU-J-216-044 would get you to 100m.

All this said, I think the real issue is that we refuse to PICK a standard and so every device with a GPS and ever map has one or two of

-MGRS

-UTM (almost identical to MGRS)

-LL DD MM' SS.ss"

-LL DD.dddd...

-LL DD MM.mmmm...'

etc.

If you make a device that can output or accept a location string, make sure it can handle all LL cases and UTM/MGRS.

labster|6 years ago

Most people can tell proximity in lat/lon coordinates based on the algorithm they learned in first grade: the number line. Perhaps they could use a similarly ubiquitous system, like the alphabet. There’s even a song to help you memorize it!