UK grid reference finder and converter

Accepts grid references, lat/long (decimal or DMS), eastings/northings, postcodes and place names.

Grid reference

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6-figure
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8-figure
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10-figure
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Lat/long
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Lat/long (DMS)
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Eastings, northings
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Nearest postcode
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Tap the map or drag the pin to move the point.

Emergency? Call 999 (or 112). For help on the hills or coast, ask for the police and then mountain rescue, or the coastguard. Read out the 10-figure grid reference one character at a time. More advice

What is a grid reference?

A grid reference pins down a spot in Great Britain using the National Grid, a flat square grid laid over the whole of England, Scotland and Wales. The grid is cut into 100 km squares, and each square has a two-letter name such as SH (Snowdonia), NN (Lochaber) or TQ (London). The digits after the letters say how far east and how far north you are inside that square.

How to read one

Take SH 609 543. The letters SH pick the 100 km square. The first half of the digits, 609, is the easting: how far across the square you go from its left edge. The second half, 543, is the northing: how far up you go from its bottom edge. Always read across first, then up. “Along the corridor, then up the stairs” is the usual way to remember it.

The two halves always have the same number of digits. If they don’t, the reference has been copied wrongly. See the full guide to reading a grid reference.

6, 8 or 10 figures?

More digits means a smaller square:

  • 6 figures (SH 609 543) identify a 100 m square. This is the standard on paper maps and route cards.
  • 8 figures (SH 6098 5437) identify a 10 m square, which is about as precise as a phone’s GPS in open country.
  • 10 figures (SH 60986 54376) identify a 1 m square. They are useful for surveys and data, but the last digits are usually beyond what a handheld GPS can actually measure.

A grid reference names the bottom-left corner of its square, so a 6-figure reference covers everything within the 100 m square up and to the right of that point. When you enter a shorter reference here, the pin goes in the middle of the square. More on choosing the right precision.

Grid references and GPS coordinates

Phones and GPS units give latitude and longitude on the WGS84 datum. The National Grid is based on a different model of the Earth’s shape (OSGB36), so converting between them involves a datum shift as well as a change of projection. This converter applies that shift. It is accurate to within a few metres anywhere in Great Britain, which is better than a typical GPS fix. Reading WGS84 coordinates straight off a phone and treating them as OSGB36 can put you more than 100 m out.