How this calculation works
Keep WGS84, the UTM zone and the hemisphere with the coordinates. Forward mode derives hemisphere from signed latitude; inverse mode requires it. N/S here always identifies a hemisphere, not an MGRS latitude band. Both directions use the selected zone rather than guessing the reference system from a place name.
WGS84 ellipsoidal Transverse Mercator; zone central meridian = 6 × zone − 183 degreesA worked example
For WGS84 latitude 56° north and longitude 12° east in UTM zone 32 north, easting is approximately 687,071.44 m and northing 6,210,141.33 m. Inverse mode recovers the same position within the rounding of those grid inputs.
Good to know
WGS84 projection only. No old-datum or realization/epoch transformation, elevation conversion, grid-to-ground scale correction, GPS accuracy estimate, geolocation or map. Explicit zone 1–60, latitude −80° to +84°, and longitude within 9° of the selected central meridian. Inverse eastings 0–1,000,000 m and northings 0–10,000,000 m are further checked against geographic limits. No UPS or MGRS parsing.
Reference: PROJ: UTM definition, parameters and worked coordinate examples (opens in a new tab) ↗
Check the land-unit definitions and sources
The standard factors use the international foot and an acre of 43,560 sq ft. Cent means 1/100 acre; gunta means 1/40 acre; the selected Chennai ground means 2,400 sq ft.
The Assam report defines bigha as 14,400 sq ft, katha as 2,880 sq ft and lecha as 144 sq ft. The cited West Bengal court order mentions a 720-sq-ft katha convention. These are explicit presets, not an automatic definition for every record or every place using the same name. Match your record to the stated convention, or use its verified custom factor.
- NIST: exact international-foot and acre factors (opens in a new tab) ↗
- API Setu MDDS: acre/cent and acre/gunta relationships (opens in a new tab) ↗
- Greater Chennai Corporation: one ground is 2,400 sq ft (opens in a new tab) ↗
- Government of Assam AIRBMP framework: section 7.2, page 28 (bigha, katha and lecha) (opens in a new tab) ↗
- Supreme Court order, 7 May 2025: paragraph 2, page 2 (West Bengal katha) (opens in a new tab) ↗
The acre relationships are converted using exact base factors. Rounded or unrelated regional values in a reference table are not substituted for these definitions.
A grid coordinate needs more than two numbers
A latitude of 56° north and longitude of 12° east describes angular position. The corresponding UTM easting and northing describe a projected position in metres. Converting between these representations requires the projection zone and reference system; swapping degrees for metres in a flat formula is not a conversion.
Every UTM zone has its own central meridian with easting 500,000 m. For zone 32 that meridian is 9° east. The equator has northing zero in the northern system and 10,000,000 m in the southern system. Reusing a northing in the wrong hemisphere therefore describes a different position, even when the two input numbers look plausible.
Select the zone recorded with your coordinates. This tool deliberately requires it rather than choosing from a location name. Most zones span six degrees of longitude, but Norway and Svalbard have exceptions. The supported nine-degree central-meridian window permits nearby-zone projections; it does not certify that a supplied point belongs to the selected official zone.
Read more: NGA: UTM zones, false origins and hemisphere/band distinction (opens in a new tab) ↗
Keep datum, zone and hemisphere when copying
At 56° north, 12° east, zone 32 north gives approximately E 687,071.44 m and N 6,210,141.33 m. Entering those rounded grid values in inverse mode returns approximately the original angular position. A small round-trip difference is expected because the metre inputs were rounded to centimetres.
A suffix such as 43N can be ambiguous without its convention: N may mean northern hemisphere, while an MGRS-style grid-zone letter describes a latitude band. The selector on this page explicitly means hemisphere. It does not parse MGRS strings, map grid squares or infer a datum from an Indian survey record.
The latitude longitude decimal and DMS converter changes notation within degrees. Use it first when your angular input is written as degrees, minutes and seconds. This UTM page performs a projection but keeps WGS84 throughout; a record on another datum needs an appropriate separately verified transformation.
Projected distances are grid distances. Height, projection scale and the chosen north reference affect the relationship to ground surveying. The bearing distance traverse calculator is a local horizontal-plane model; feeding it unrelated zones or treating grid north as magnetic north does not make its result geographically consistent. Copying more decimal places also does not improve a phone or survey observation.
A few questions, answered
Will this find my location or request GPS permission?
No. You enter the coordinates. Projection runs locally and uses no map tiles, device geolocation, paid API or coordinate lookup.
Can I omit the zone when I have eastings and northings?
No. The same grid numbers can occur in many zones. Obtain the zone, hemisphere and datum from the source record rather than guessing from a plausible-looking result.
Does WGS84 conversion fix an older local survey datum?
No. Both sides of this converter use WGS84. Datum, realization, epoch, height and grid-to-ground transformations are outside its scope.
Why does the tool reject a point far from the selected central meridian?
Its supported window is nine degrees either side of that meridian, along with UTM latitude and input bounds. This limits projection misuse; it is not a claim that all points inside the window belong to the chosen official zone.