Alphanumeric grid
| a | b | c | d | e | f | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a1 | b1 | c1 | d1 | e1 | f1 |
| 2 | a2 | b2 | c2 | d2 | e2 | f2 |
| 3 | a3 | b3 | c3 | d3 | e3 | f3 |
| 4 | a4 | b4 | c4 | d4 | e4 | f4 |
| 5 | a5 | b5 | c5 | d5 | e5 | f5 |
| 6 | a6 | b6 | c6 | d6 | e6 | f6 |
An alphanumeric grid (also known as atlas grid) is a simple coordinate system on a grid in which each cell is identified by a combination of a letter and a number.
An advantage over numeric coordinates such as easting and northing, which use two numbers instead of a number and a letter to refer to a grid cell, is that there can be no confusion over which coordinate refers to which direction. As an easy example, one could think about battleship; simply match the number at the top to the number on the bottom, then follow the two lines until they meet in a spot.
Algebraic chess notation uses an alphanumeric grid to refer to the squares of a chessboard.
Some kinds of geocode also use letters and numbers, typically several of each in order to specify many more locations over much larger regions.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Alphanumeric grid”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Xadrez-not algebrica bluewhite.png by own work, but strongly based on Marcelo Reis' previous work, CC BY-SA 3.0
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