Support for MGRS in ArcGIS

The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) is used widely within the military to define locations on the Earth's surface. Support for MGRS in ArcGIS is provided in the following main ways:

• Through the MGRS locator installed in ArcGIS, so any tool or geoprocessing tool that can accept a locator as input can use the MGRS locator.
• Through the Units button that exists on various tools, such as the Identify and Go To XY location tools. (The Units button controls the units in which the user can enter coordinates; by selecting MGRS units, the user can enter coordinates in MGRS.)
• In the data frame units display drop-down list. If you select MGRS as described in the following procedure, ArcMap displays coordinates in MGRS units on the status bar as you move your cursor around the map display area.
  1. In the ArcMap table of contents, right-click Layers and choose Properties.
  2. On the Data Frame Properties dialog box, click the General tab.
  3. In the Units area, click the down arrow next to Display. Select MGRS (near the bottom of the list).
  4. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Caution:

Always express the easting and northing values using the same number of digits; for example, if you specify the easting using three digits, the northing must be specified using three digits.

Listed below are the various tools and geoprocessing tools that support MGRS, grouped by functional category.

Map navigation

The following table describes tools that support MGRS and let you move around the map and determine or find locations within the map.

Name	Location	Function
Identify tool	Tools toolbar	Identifies the geographic feature or place on which you click
Find tool	Tools toolbar	Finds features in the map
Go To XY tool	Tools toolbar	Allows you to type an x,y location and navigate to it
Address Input text box	Geocoding toolbar	Allows you to find a location by entering a location in single-line format
Address Inspector tool	Geocoding toolbar	Displays locations on the map when you click a point location on the map
Coordinate Display	Set in data frame properties	Displays coordinates on the ArcMap status bar

Feature creation

The following table describes ways you can create features using MGRS, either through automated operations (for example, using geoprocessing tools) or by drawing them on a map.

Name	Location	Function
Editing tools	Advanced/Editing toolbars	Any editing tool that allows you to choose the units in which coordinates are entered supports MGRS. Examples are the Absolute X,Y and the Construct Geodetic tools.
Geocode Addresses tool	Geocoding toolbar	Geocodes a table of locations and shows the results on the map.
Geocode Addresses	Geocoding Tools toolbox	Geocodes a table of locations.
Reverse Geocode	Geocoding Tools toolbox	Creates locations from point locations in a feature class.
Convert_Coordinate_Notation	Data Management toolbox	Converts coordinate notation from the input table to a new field in a new point feature class.