What is UTM & MGRS Converter?
Converts between every common GPS coordinate format: decimal degrees, DMS, DDM, UTM, MGRS, Plus Code, and Geohash. Smart paste auto-detects the format you give it, and a map preview lets you verify the location visually.
Seven coordinate systems update at the same time as you type: decimal degrees, DMS, DDM, UTM (zone-based metric grid), MGRS (the military grid built on top of UTM), Plus Code (Google's Open Location Code), and Geohash. You can paste any of those formats into Smart input and the tool figures out which one it is. Decimal-degree precision is adjustable between 4, 6, and 8 places, and MGRS precision steps from 1 km down to 1 m. The Use My Location button pulls a one-shot fix from the device's geolocation API. The map is interactive — drag the orange pin or click anywhere to set a point and reconvert it on the spot. Once a location is set you can copy all seven formats at once, or export the point as KML for Google Earth, GeoJSON for QGIS, or GPX for a Garmin or other GPS device.
How to use
- Step 1 — Enter coordinates in any GPS format, or click the "Use My Location" button to auto-detect your position.
- Step 2 — All supported formats (DD, DMS, DDM, UTM, MGRS) update simultaneously with the converted values.
- Step 3 — Copy any single format, or hit Copy all to grab the whole block. Drag the map pin or click to fine-tune the point, and export it as KML, GeoJSON, or GPX for Google Earth, QGIS, or a GPS device.
When to use
- Reading a UTM coordinate off a search-and-rescue beacon and converting to decimal for a smartphone GPS.
- Filing an MGRS reference required by NATO or US military planning documents.
- Translating a topo map's UTM grid into the lat-long format a hiking app expects.
Result
A geocacher enters UTM coordinates 33T 4834721N 456299E from a cache listing and gets the decimal degrees 43.6426° N, 1.3548° E to enter into their smartphone GPS app.
FAQ
- What is UTM and why does it have zones?
- Universal Transverse Mercator divides the planet into 60 north-south strips, each 6° wide. Inside a zone, distances and angles are nearly distortion-free, which is why surveyors and military maps use it instead of lat-long for fieldwork.
- How is MGRS different from UTM?
- MGRS uses the same zone system but encodes the position into a single alphanumeric string like 33TWN8434821699. It is much shorter to read over a radio and avoids confusion between northing and easting numbers. Internally it is just UTM with a grid-letter overlay.
- Why does my UTM result change zone for a point near the boundary?
- UTM zones step every 6° of longitude. Points within a few kilometres of a boundary technically belong to one zone but can be referenced from the next using extended coordinates. The converter picks the home zone unless you explicitly request otherwise.
- Can I trust the Use My Location button outdoors and indoors?
- Outdoors with a clear sky a phone usually reports accuracy under 10 m, a laptop using WiFi triangulation closer to 50 m. Indoors the radius can balloon to several hundred metres. The reported accuracy is shown alongside the coordinate.
- What datum does the conversion assume?
- WGS84, the same datum used by GPS, OpenStreetMap, and Google Maps. If your source is on a national datum (NAD27 in the US, OSGB36 in the UK, Tokyo for older Japanese maps), expect tens to hundreds of metres of offset until you transform the datum first.
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