Where Am I?
One of the most important pieces of information we need from you is the location of your amphibian sighting, as precisely as possible. You can report your observations in either system:
UTM Coordinates
This is the most precise coordinate system and the one used by all the Geographic Information System databases in B.C. UTM stands for Universal Transverse Mercator, a system of world coordinates that are expressed in metres.
Our data system only allows entry of UTMs from the NAD83 system. National Topographic Maps will have an entry in the lower right hand corner that says either “North American Datum 1927” or “North American Datum 1983.”
UTM coordinates are expressed in terms of a Zone (7 to 11 for British Columbia) and easting (a 6 digit number) and northing (a 7-digit number) coordinates within this zone. It will look like this on a GPS unit:
(only without the scribbled explanations)
This can be written as “Zone 10 S 559741 mE. 4282182 mN.”
You can find your UTM location in several ways:
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Read UTM coordinates off a topographic map.
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If you have a GPS unit, or a cell phone that can function as a GPS receiver, you can set it to display your location as a UTM coordinate. You will need to make sure the GPS unit is set to use “NAD83” as the map datum.
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You can select your location and automatically enter the coordinates when you are entering your data online on the BC Frogwatch CMN data entry site or obtain the UTMs from iMap using these instructions
[PDF 353KB].
Good Old-Fashioned Latitude and Longitude
You can get this information from a good map, preferably as fine a scale as possible. GPS receivers can also display your latitude and longitude. You can select your location and automatically enter the coordinates when you are entering your data online on the BC Frogwatch CMN data entry site or using Google maps using these instructions
[PDF 974KB].
Photo © Heather Waye. No reproduction or distribution without permission.
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