The Applicant should familiarize themselves with map grids, the latitude and longitude coordinates, to best relay pertinent information to FEMA. Maps with latitude and longitude coordinates provide FEMA with the best context to locate the damage and damaged facilities.

Map grids:

Map grids make it faster and easier to identify any point on a map.

• Letter/number combinations or numbers strings are used on maps, depending on their type

Latitude and Longitude:

• Latitude: Identifies the north-south location of a point on the Earth. The latitudinal lines run horizontally around the Earth, starting at the Equator
• Longitude: Identifies the east-west location of a point on the earth. The longitudinal lines run vertically around the Earth starting at the Prime Meridian
• When latitudinal and longitudinal lines are combined, the intersection identifies a location on Earth. The exact location on Earth depends on the degree of the latitudinal and longitudinal points
• Longitude is measured as negative when west of the Prime Meridian
• Latitude and longitude are used for giving coordinate positions in a decimal format