Home / Conversion Guide
UTM MGRS

Convert Universal Transverse Mercator to Military Grid Reference System

To convert UTM to MGRS: determine the 100km column letter (from zone mod 3 and easting/100000), determine the row letter (from zone parity and northing/100000 mod 20), then format as GZD+colLetter+rowLetter+5digitEasting+5digitNorthing.

UTM to MGRS Converter

DD Decimal Degrees

DMS Deg. Min. Sec.

DDM Deg. Decimal Min.

UTM Univ. Trans. Mercator

MGRS Military Grid

Geohash Base32

Plus Code Open Location Code

How to Convert UTM to MGRS: Step by Step

  1. 1 Column set = (zone-1)%3. Column letter = colSet[floor(easting/100000)-1].
  2. 2 Row parity = (zone-1)%2. Row letter = rowSet[floor(northing/100000)%20].
  3. 3 Easting digits = easting % 100000, padded to 5.
  4. 4 Northing digits = northing % 100000, padded to 5.
  5. 5 Combine: zone+letter+colLetter+rowLetter+easting5+northing5.

Worked Example

Input 31U 448251 5411943

Latitude conversion:

col: set0, idx3 → D; row: odd zone, idx14 → Q

Longitude conversion:

48251 and 11943

Result:

31UDQ4825111943

Why Convert UTM to MGRS?

Required for working with NATO maps, Blue Force Tracker, and military communications.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Using colSet based on wrong zone modular
  • Not padding to 5 digits