[Proj] MGRS/USNG support?

[Clifford J Mugnier]

Such as it may be for the United States, a minor glitch won't necessarily
mean the difference between life and death.  Once this gets extended
world-wide the permanent damage is done if the slightest error is included
in the code.

Who wants the responsibility for the loss of life of an American Soldier
sometime in the future for a "little ole goof in software?"  The USNG has a
theoretical justification in that it "will be used in the future for rescue
operations."  Maybe so, maybe no.  It certainly was NOT used for Katrina
because there's a UTM Zone change in the middle of the city of New Orleans.

Mice and men folks; the USNG is a dog and civilian implementation of the
MGRS will eventually get some young men killed.  Within the U.S., some may
remember the Twenty-nine Palms incident - that was only an entire U.S. town
that almost got bombed with live ordinance ... thank goodness for a break
in the clouds and not the MGRS!

I think it's a stupid idea (USNG), and I have said so publically for over a
decade since its original publication.  But what do I know about the use of
coordinate systems, anyway?

Clifford J. Mugnier, C.P., C.M.S.
National Director (2006-2008),
Photogrammetric Applications Division
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
and
Chief of Geodesy,
CENTER FOR GEOINFORMATICS
Department of Civil Engineering
CEBA 3223A
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Baton Rouge, LA  70803
Voice and Facsimile:  (225) 578-8536 [Academic]
Voice and Facsimile:  (225) 578-4474 [Research]
Honorary Life Member of the
Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors
======================================================
http://www.asprs.org/resources/GRIDS/
http://appl003.lsu.edu/eng/ceeweb.nsf/$Content/Mugnier
======================================================


USNG is an FGDC standard:
http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/usng/
fgdc_std_011_2001_usng.pdf



On May 4, 2006, at 5:06 PM, Duncan Agnew wrote:

> To answer Gerald's question, USNG is MGRS inside the US (near as I
> can make out): they look the same but go by different names because
> different agencies promulgate them. Online and downloadable
> computation is available at http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/TOOLS/usng.html
>
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George Percivall
Open Geospatial Consortium
http://www.opengeospatial.org/
E-mail: percivall at opengeospatial.org
Voice: 1+301-560-6439



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