Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system

The 60 UTM zones are north-south strips each covering 6° of longitude. This figure shows the grid zones of MGRS, which is a subdivision of UTM; each UTM zone is one vertical strip containing all the MGRS grid zones from pole to pole.

Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) is a system for specifying locations on the Earth, based on transverse Mercator projections. It covers the part of the Earth between 84° N and 80° S, dividing it into 60 zones and applying a separate projection to each zone. Specifying a location consists of specifying the zone, the hemisphere (north or south), and the x, y plane coordinates within the zone.

Each UTM zone is a long strip that extends from 84° N to 80° S and spans 6 degrees of longitude, with a few exceptions. By using such narrow strips, and setting a scale factor of 0.9996 for the central meridian of each strip, UTM limits linear distortion to about 1 part in 1,000 within the bounds of each zone. UTM coordinates are used in many nations and regions for topographic mapping and for pinpointing locations.

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