Talk:National Grid (Britain)

I think this article is poorly titled for the following reasons:

1. The title National Grid could also refer to a country's electric power distribution system, not maps, I would have thought.
2. The word map should be in the title.
3. Mapping co-ordinate systems is a travel topic that is general to the world. Having an article specific to one country may mean information common to all mapping reference systems is duplicated or lost.
4. Map references or Geographic co-ordinates may be better titles. Perhaps even Geospatial mapping systems or even simply Maps may be more informative and less obscure.

(WT-en) Huttite 08:09, 11 Jun 2004 (EDT)

I agree, something needs to change about this to make it more generally useful. (WT-en) Majnoona 12:23, 11 Jun 2004 (EDT)

As far as Huttite's points 1&2 are concerned, I fully agree. In fact I had the same realisation just after I saved it, and was/am still pondering a new title. As you probably realise, this is still work in progress and unlinked from anywhere other than my user page.

As far as making it more general, I'm not sure. My motivation for creating the article was twofold; firstly I felt that travellers to the UK would likely come across uk grid references and may not understand them; secondly I felt the need to include grid references in some UK articles (especially where dealing with out-of-city attractions) and I wanted an article to link to to explain these.

Whilst the principles of a grid reference system are the same, the actual implementation details do vary. If I were just to describe the principles, then the result would be of no great practical use to the traveller, and would in any case duplicate a perfectly good article on wikipedia (WikiPedia:Grid_Reference). If I were to try and cover the detail of each system, then I would end up with something very cumbersome. And of course the co-ordinate system that is perhaps most used (lat/long) is based on different principles, adding more complexity to such an article.

Other than in Britain and Ireland, I'm not sure how widely used grid reference systems are. Certainly as a traveller myself I've not noticed them, but I don't know whether that is because they don't exist, or because they are less generally used, or because I've been unobservant. Do you know of other countries with widely used grid systems?.

Perhaps a solution would be to have a general article on co-ordinate systems (with a practical 'for travellers' viewpoint, rather than a technical one that IMHO belongs on WikiPedia) linking to specific articles for specific systems (eg. LatLong/UK grid/Irish grid/etc).

Thoughts?. -- (WT-en) Chris j wood 08:28, 12 Jun 2004 (EDT)

I know there is a New Zealand Map Grid reference system, and I presume one for Australia as well as Canada and USA at least. I suspect there is one for most countries. I agree that WikiPedia is the right place for an article that describes the principles of how Map Grids are derived. However an article that generally explains how to use map grid references and specific notes for each country that has one would be useful for Wikivoyagers.

I now think that an article called Map grid references is probably a good general title. The words British and National should not be used for various political reasons (see the countries talk pages), though United Kingdom and Ireland is probably acceptable as a country specific heading. Thus United Kingdom and Ireland map grid references would be a better title for this specific article.

Although I think this article could be generalised, a country specific article is a good start. Once it is written, others may be inspired to write similar articles for their countries. -- (WT-en) Huttite 07:39, 13 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Travel topic?

Is this article a travel topic? ~ 61.91.191.11 06:35, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

Rename?

Still unresolved after over a decade and a half since initial discussion. "National Grid" is an electricity company, w:National Grid plc. This article refers to w:Ordnance Survey National Grid and should be named accordingly or similarly. Perhaps "British Ordnance Survey Maps". Nelson Ricardo (talk) 03:26, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

I don't think readers of a travel guide are going to expect an article about either the company, or the UK electricity transmission network in general. This is not an encyclodedia. AlasdairW (talk) 21:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

I support changing the name to a title that avoids the above confusion. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 22:24, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

Propose rename

Swept in from the pub

National_Grid_(Britain) → Navigating in the UK.

The thinking here is that this could be expanded to provide more information on various OS Maps. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 17:01, 18 May 2022 (UTC)

The other thinking is that other topics could be written for navigation and mapping issues in other regions, like for example USGS maps in the US for example?

ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 17:01, 18 May 2022 (UTC)

Link: Talk:National Grid (Britain).--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 13:31, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

"Navigating in the UK" might be a bit broad-brush if the focus is going to be on OS maps and particularly grid references. I would suggest "Grid references in Great Britain" / "...in Britain and Ireland" (the OS only covers GB + Isle of Man; the island of Ireland has its own grid reference system, and I'm not sure about the Channel Islands).

But does this really need an article? Granted, it's unfinished, but it has been in that state since 2008. Could the information not be incorporated into either the United Kingdom/Britain and Ireland articles, or into Walking in the United Kingdom? Perhaps naively, I think the existence of What3Words and widespread mobile signal coverage make grid references almost redundant.--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 13:44, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

When this article was started in 2004, it would have been quite useful to include National Grid references in a listing in a rural UK article. Now it would be better to include lat/long, so that it appeared on the map. Today I would carry a paper OS map if I was going for a full day walk in open country, but wouldn't bother if I was just following a path to something near the road.

Either merge this into Walking in the United Kingdom, or expand it to cover the grid systems used in other countries (I have used similar maps with grids in the US, Australia and New Zealand). Move it to Navigating in the UK if you want to explain other UK navigation tricks like using postcodes with a car GPS system. AlasdairW (talk) 21:16, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

This discussion seemed to have fizzled out. Should this be moved to Navigating in the United Kingdom? @AlasdairW, ShakespeareFan00, ThunderingTyphoons!:? SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 03:39, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

I would support moving to Navigating in the United Kingdom (or similar). Some of the possible additions:

• Using UK postcodes for navigation.
• UK street naming and numbering conventions
• Using natural features for navigation
• What 3 words app.

I am busy at the moment, so it may take some time before I can make any additions. AlasdairW (talk) 22:57, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

I would as original proposer support moving to Navigating (in) the United Kingdom. Use of postcodes for SatNav, amartphone apps is also common place.

I could also consider relocating some of the stuff about road-numbering I put in Driving in the United Kingdom.

I was also taught some urban navigation tips, like pubs (although less useful as pub closures have happened), transport hubs and so on :). In rural areas, you also need to know how to avoid 'bad' routes. Trees and telecom lines aren't marked on most standard maps, but they are useful...

ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:30, 23 July 2022 (UTC)