Pinpoint locations

• by annedonnelly

  As I'm in the UK I'm used to OS grid refs for accurately pinpointing a location, e.g. NZ313798 represents a 100m x 100m square. When transcribing the herbarium data I have noticed that many of the records have only vague location information. However, some have locations given as, e.g. R4W, T1S sect 11. I am interested to learn how this system works. I assume that W and S are west and south respectively. A quick Google has shown an area divided into 16 sections. I assume that my example means section 11 of R4 west and T1 south. Is this a nationally used system or is it specific to a particular state? Is it still in use?

  Thanks

  Posted August 13, 2013 11:59 AM

• by darryluk

  There are converters from US to UK online, so I assume it's still in existence. I think it may be a US/US military system.

  Posted August 14, 2013 6:48 PM

• by ghewson in response to annedonnelly's comment.

  The Public Land Survey System is used in most, but not all, states in the US.

  Mods: this is a frequently asked question (e.g., http://talk.notesfromnature.org/#/boards/BNN0000003/discussions/DNN0000094). Could we please have an FAQ? Or a Wiki? Just set it up and the volunteers will feed lots of good information into it!

  Posted August 14, 2013 7:36 PM

• by annedonnelly

  Thanks ghewson. I've learned something new today 😃

  Good idea about the FAQ/Wiki - I'm finding this a difficult forum to find previous info

  Posted August 15, 2013 8:59 AM