Using the Go To XY tool

As you work with a map, you can easily change how you view the data it contains. When you're just browsing a map, you might want to pan and zoom around the data to investigate different areas and features. Most of the tools for navigating your data are found on the Tools toolbar.

One of the special tools is called Go To XY. You can use this tool to type in x,y coordinates and navigate to them. The coordinates you enter can be

• Longitude-Latitude
• Values in the map document's coordinate system
• U.S. National Grid (USNG) coordinates
• Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) coordinates
• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate notation

On the Tools toolbar, click the Go To XY button to open the Go To XY dialog box, which is shown here.

You can use the Go To XY dialog box to pan to, zoom to, or flash the location. You can also draw a point, a labeled point, or a callout at the location. The recent history list makes it easy to return to coordinates you have already entered.

Tip:

You can set the symbols used for markers, labels, and callouts by clicking Drawing on the Draw toolbar and clicking Default Symbol Properties.

Tools on the Go To XY dialog box

Button	Name	Function
	Pan To	Pan to the location.
	Zoom To	Zoom to the location.
	Flash	Flash the location.
	Add Point	Draw a point at the location.
	Add Labeled Point	Draw a point at the location labeled with its coordinates.
	Add Callout	Draw a callout pointing at the location showing its coordinates.
	Recent	Return to a location you've already entered in this session.
	Units	Choose the units in which to enter coordinates.

Guidelines for specifying coordinates with the Go To XY command

You can specify the location as a longitude-latitude coordinate pair, a Military Grid Reference System grid location, a Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate, or a U.S. National Grid location. Click the Units button to choose the units in which to enter coordinates.

• Remember that x is longitude (East/West), and y is latitude (North/South)—the same order in which coordinates are listed in the status bar. Spherical coordinates aren't always specified in this order, so make sure you enter longitude first in this dialog box. For example, if someone asks you to plot 17.1325, -60.666 on the map, ask them if these coordinates are in longitude-latitude or latitude-longitude order. The only way to tell the order from the coordinates themselves is if they contain E, W, N, S characters to signify the hemisphere.
• When you are using decimal degrees (DD), degrees minutes seconds (DMS), or degrees decimal minutes (DM), coordinates can be entered by using a minus sign before the numeric value to signify the western or southern quadrants or using E, W, N, S characters before or after the numeric values.
• Values in DMS and DM coordinates can be separated with spaces or the °, ', " special characters (such as when you paste coordinates that you have copied from other dialog boxes or applications that use those characters) or both.
• Regardless of whether you are using DD, DMS, or DM in the dialog box, coordinates can be entered in any of these three longitude-latitude formats and are automatically converted to match your chosen format.
• When you are using DD and DM, coordinates you input are always converted to use a minus sign to signify W or S.
• When you are using DMS, coordinates you input are always converted to use E, W, N, S to signify quadrants and are given the °, ', ", special characters.
• When using MGRS, or USNG locations, make sure there are no spaces in the coordinate string.

Valid longitude-latitude inputs

-45	-45
45 W	45 S
45.50W	45.50S
W45	S45
45 30.5W	44 30.5S
45° 30'30"W	45°30'30"N
45 30 30 W	45 30 30 N
-45 30 30	45 30 30
45 30.50W	45 30.50
-45.50833	45.50833

Valid MGRS and USNG inputs

18SUH	100,000-meter square	0-digit coordinate
18SUH64	10,000-meter square	2-digit coordinate
18SUH6743	1,000-meter square	4-digit coordinate
18SUH678432	100-meter square	6-digit coordinate
18SUH67894321	10-meter square	8-digit coordinate
18SUH6789043210	1-meter square	10-digit coordinate

Valid UTM coordinate notation input

17R 419230 2714967

1-meter square

13-digit coordinate

Tip:

You can use the Identify tool on the Tools toolbar to click any location in the map and find its x,y location.