ConverterHub

MGRS to Lat/Lon Parser

Paste an MGRS grid reference to convert it to latitude and longitude.

How it is calculated

The reference is split into the grid zone (zone number 1–60 plus a latitude band letter, with I and O not used), a two-letter 100 km square, and equal-length easting and northing digit groups of 1 to 5 digits each. Spaced and compact forms both work (31U DQ 48251 11932 or 31UDQ4825111932), in upper or lower case. The zone number and the first letter give the easting of the square's west edge, the second letter gives its northing, and the band letter decides which 2,000 km repeat of that letter is meant. The digits are scaled to metres, giving a UTM easting and northing, which are converted to WGS84 latitude and longitude with the inverse Transverse Mercator series (k0 = 0.9996, central meridian lon0 = 6 × zone − 183). The result is the south-west corner of the grid cell, in decimal degrees to five places. Impossible references, such as unequal digit counts, a letter that does not fit the zone, a point outside its latitude band or a non-existent zone 32X, give no result.

Worked example

Enter 31U DQ 48251 11932. The tool reads zone 31, band U and square DQ, with easting digits 48251 and northing digits 11932, and shows Zone 31U, square DQ, E 48251, N 11932. Zone 31 has its central meridian at 3°E. Letter D in zone 31 puts the square's west edge at 400,000 m, so the full easting is 448,251 m, about 51.7 km west of the meridian. Square row Q plus the band U (48°–56°N) selects a northing of 5,411,932 m. The inverse projection then gives latitude and longitude of 48.85819, 2.29449, which is in central Paris.

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Common mistakes

  • Swapping easting and northing. The easting always comes first. Entering 31U DQ 11932 48251 still gives a valid-looking point (49.18074, 1.79155), about 50 km from the intended spot in Paris, and the tool cannot warn you.
  • Expecting the centre of the cell. The result is the south-west corner, so a short reference lands up to a whole cell away: 31U DQ 48 11 (a 1 km cell) gives 48.84979, 2.29119, roughly 1 km from the five-digit reference.
  • Giving different digit counts to easting and northing, such as 31U DQ 482 11932, or an odd number of digits in the compact form. Both give no result; add leading zeros so the two groups are equal.
  • Getting a letter wrong. A different 100 km square letter moves the point by hundreds of kilometres (31U DA … lands near 54.25, 2.21), while a band letter that does not match the coordinates (31T instead of 31U) gives no result.
  • Using I or O in a letter group, a zone outside 1–60, or zone 32, 34 or 36 with band X. Those combinations do not exist in MGRS.

About this calculator

The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) encodes a location as a compact alphanumeric string built on the UTM projection: a zone number and latitude band letter, a two-letter 100-kilometre square identifier, and an easting/northing pair whose digit count sets the precision — one digit each gives a 10 km square, five digits each pin the point to 1 metre. A string like “31U DQ 48251 11932” locates the Eiffel Tower to the metre in a few characters.

Because MGRS avoids decimal points, negative signs and long numbers, it reads clearly over radio and on paper maps, which is why NATO militaries, search-and-rescue teams and land surveyors rely on it. This tool checks the reference, rebuilds the full UTM easting and northing, and converts them to WGS84 latitude and longitude in decimal degrees (the south-west corner of the grid cell, as MGRS references are). Easting and northing must have the same number of digits.

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