Obtaining Grid-Refs For Anywhere In Britain

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SteveMcBill
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Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:15 am
Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
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Obtaining Grid-Refs For Anywhere In Britain

Post by SteveMcBill »

Obtaining Grid-Refs For Anywhere In Britain:

Working out OS Grid References for records has always been slightly problematical both in terms of the time it takes, the resources required (maps etc.) and the potential accuracy of the result. It is not all that easy guesstimating the exact position within a 10Km square to a six-figure accuracy.

However, such times are now past !! The rECOrd website has a data-entry facility (RODISrECOrd On-line Data Input System) to allow recorders to enter their own data (and to export it back to themselves as spreadsheets). Within this facility there is now a ‘new’ button next to the Grid-Ref entry field called G Map. Click this button and a window comes up with a map from Google Maps (hence G Map).

You can zoom in and out of the map, you can move it around by holding the mouse button down, you can jump to named places by typing in a place name (e.g. town). More importantly you can turn on Satellite View which overlays the map with satellite based overhead photographs of the area being looked at whilst still showing road names, etc. This means that you can, when zoomed all the way in, even see individual trees.

Clicking on the map will deliver a Grid-Ref at 8 figure accuracy (up to 10 figure accuracy for some parts of the country) and there is a button to click to drop this Grid-Ref directly into the data entry field in RODIS.

Grid-Refs can be obtained in this fashion for ANYWHERE in Britain !!! That should save the cost of buying loads of maps every time one goes away on holiday.

Hope it helps you in your recording. If you have any feedback on the operation of G Map and/or RODIS or any suggestions for enhancements etc. then please do contact the staff at rECOrd. Contact details can be found from the menu at the top of this page.

Cheers.

Steve :)
ryenats
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Re: Obtaining Grid-Refs For Anywhere In Britain

Post by ryenats »

This is a life-saver - many thanks Steve (sorry I'm not recording in your area to take full advantage of it for you!)

Gill
SteveMcBill
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Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
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Re: Obtaining Grid-Refs For Anywhere In Britain

Post by SteveMcBill »

Grab A Grid Reference In The UK - Even Easier - New Facility - (07/05/2009):

As of Thursday 7th May 2009 a new Google Mapping facility has been added to the rECOrd website. This new facility is specifically designed to aid naturalists and recorders in obtaining accurate Grid References to place with their sightings of wild organisms. The 'new' facility can be found over at:

http://googlemaps.record-lrc.co.uk/

The facility previously supplied inside RODIS (rECOrd Online Data Entry Service) is still available but is more appropriate for those using RODIS to enter their records/data either to go into the rECOrd database or to be exported as a CSV file back to themselves.

Firstly click the link above. Then, to use the new facility - hover your mouse over the tab at the top of the map which says "Grid reference tools" - a drop-down menu will be displayed; click the tick box next to "Click here to get grid reference by clicking on the map", this will enable the display of Grid Refs by clicking on the map.

Position the map and zoom in to the maximum level to find the place for which you want a Grid Reference and then left click on the map at that point - the Grid Ref for that point will be displayed and can then be copied out for the record(s) you made at that geographical point.

Happy Grid Referencing !!!!

Steve :)
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