UTM - Universal Transversal Mercator Coordinate System

The UTM Coordinate System (Universal Transversal Mercator) covers the Earth between 84° northern und 80° southern Latitude and is segmented in 60 six degrees wide meridian strips. To minimize distance distortions around the border meridians the central meridian is built with the scale correction of 0.9996.

The X-coordinate is measured from the equator. In the southern hemisphere a value of 10,000 kilometers is added to insure positive coordinates. The Y-coordinate is measured from the central meridian with 500 km added to insure positive coordinates. The resulting coordinates are marked E for East and N for North.

The central meridians of the meridian strips, also called zones, are at 3°, 9°, and 15° etc. eastern or western longitude. They are counted starting from 177° western longitude. For example, 3° eastern longitude belongs to the zone number 31; 9° eastern Longitude is in the zone number 32 etc.