U.S. National Grid Institute

At the start of this millennium, across federal, state, county, city and tribal governments of the United States there was no uniform way for members of the Emergency Service Sector (ESS) to effectively communicate location.  As a result, in 2001 the Federal Geographic Data Committee endorsed use of the Military Grid Reference System as the solution for this problem. Specific to the United States and territories, this geolocation coordinate system – with some slight modifications – is referred to as the U.S. National Grid (USNG).

Despite subsequent endorsement by multiple federal departments and agencies (including FEMA), states, and professional organizations, adoption has been thin and is currently limited to those communities actively willing to embrace advancements in technology and national standards.

It is a circumstance which has left every American vulnerable to delays in emergency response when ESS personnel have difficulty locating an incident site due to the poor communication of "where".  

For this reason, a group of concerned citizens from all corners of the nation began a series of discussions in 2020 about the need to break down institutional inertia and fix this problem for the United States.  In early 2022, this group decided to form the United States National Grid Institute (USNGI) as their first step.

The remaining pages of this website provide information about the ongoing efforts of this group and how you can participate.