Global Area Reference System

Design

• GARS divides the surface of the earth into 30-minute by 30-minute cells. Each cell is identified by a five-character designation.
• * The first three characters designate a 30-minute wide longitudinal band. Beginning with the 180-degree meridian and proceeding eastward, the bands are numbered from 001 to 720, so that 180 E to 179 30’W is band 001; 179 30’W to 179 00’W is band 002; and so on.
• * The fourth and fifth characters designate a 30-minute wide latitudinal band. Beginning at the south pole and proceeding northward, the bands are lettered from AA to QZ so that 90 00’S to 89 30’S is band AA; 89 30’S to 89 00’S is band AB; and so on.
• Each 30-minute cell is divided into four 15-minute by 15-minute quadrants.
• * The quadrants are numbered sequentially, from west to east, starting with the northernmost band. Specifically, the northwest quadrant is “1”; the northeast quadrant is “2”; the southwest quadrant is “3”; the southeast quadrant is “4”.
• * Each quadrant is identified by a six-character designation. The first five characters comprise the 30-minute cell designation. The sixth character is the quadrant number.
• Each 15-minute quadrant is divided into nine 5-minute by 5-minute areas.
• * The areas are numbered sequentially, from west to east, starting with the northernmost band. The graphical representation of a 15-minute quadrant with numbered 5-minute by 5-minute areas resembles a telephone keypad.
• * Each 5-minute by 5-minute area, or keypad “key” is identified by a seven-character designation. The first six characters comprise the 15-minute quadrant designation. The seventh character is the keypad “key” number.