Grid Systems for Recording Specimen Collection Localities in North America

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Abstract
Specimen locality data, an essential resource of animal systematic collections, is often recorded in inaccurate, poorly reproducible and nonuniform ways that sharply limit the value of specimens, such as citing the nearest town, giving distance and direction from a landmark, or describing a locality in terms of geographic features. Coordinate grid systems can provide accurate, reproducible, and uniform locality data and also greatly simplify distribution mapping. Three grid systems are available on large-scale government quadrangle maps in North America. The USA land survey grids, while useful locally, do not apply to most areas and are too irregular to use for mapping. The Universal Transverse Mercator Grid, with separate plane grids for adjacent narrow zones, has ample coverage, accuracy, and reproducibility, but relocating and mapping coordinates can be very complex. The decimal geographic grid proposed here, using latitude/longitude with decimal parts of degrees instead of minutes and seconds, seems best for use in North America. Decimal geographic coordinates of any desired accuracy are easy to determine, use and map. Accuracy of 0.001.degree., attainable with standard quadrangle maps, unambiguously specifies any point to within .apprx. 111 m with full reproducibility. Locality data this specific have numerous uses not possible with traditional forms.

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