War Diaries Talk

Grid

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    What does central mean in "N.32 central"? Is it the centre of square 32?

    Posted

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    And how do I tag that?

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    In the Grid Reference Box there are 5 squares. In the first one put the N, second one put 32, and in the 3rd square, which is generally a, b, c etc, just type in the word central it will then give you N 32 central.

    Posted

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be in response to marie.eklidvirginmedia.com's comment.

    Thanks. Didn't know you could type an entire word in that square

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I didn't know that either. Thank you, Marie. I've always tagged something like that as just N.32.

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I'm not actually sure what the 'central' bit means here. At this level there would be 4 divisions of the larger map square, labelled a-d, so there isn't really a 'central' section as such.

    I think following Marie's advice is good, though. That way we've captured the information.

    Posted

  • LinsladeLad by LinsladeLad

    I wasn't aware that you could type the word "central" in either. Thanks for that tip Marie.

    I have no idea what the central bit means either, but it's something I've come across a lot of times in different unit diaries.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    I have just posted this Grid box Tip, on the Mess Hall Board-Useful Tips.

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Thanks, Marie. I also didn't know we had a Useful Tips section on the boards.

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Thanks, Marie 😃

    Cynthia, I'd completely forgotten we had one, and I set it up!

    Posted

  • Stork by Stork

    While we're on the subject, here's something I've always wondered... if you put '0' in the last two boxes and then click the down arrow, negative numbers appear. I've never seen negative numbers in a diary. What is that for?

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to Stork's comment.

    I can't answer your question, but it certainly seems counter-intuitive. I don't know how you can have negative locations. Just wanted to let you know your question has been noted, but I'm going to have to pass this one on to Rob. He usually looks in on Mondays, so you may get a better answer tomorrow.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    Informative Article regarding Topographic maps (1:40,000) used by the British Army on the Western Front in World War 1 had a five-part Grid Reference System. Link: http://www.mygeodesy.id.au/documents/Trench Maps.pdf

    Lots of explanations regarding the grid systems in this article. Can’t answer your question either, but as Cynthis says, Ral may be able to.

    There are references here to Negatives in this article. To find it in the article, press key Control and F (find) then in the top right hand corner of the article there will appear a long square box, type in negative and every time negative appears, it will come up in colour, so you can find it easily. This applies to all articles when you need to find something quickly.

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I actually think this is most likely just a design flaw in that particular tag. The British Army trench map grid system didn't make use of negative coordinates (at least as far as I'm aware).

    The National Library of Scotland have a great explanation of the grid system in use: http://maps.nls.uk/ww1/trenches/info2.html

    Posted