GridRat is a helper application which is designed to take the hard work out of finding or reporting a grid reference anywhere in the UK. At its most basic you can simply move the mouse around the screen and read directly from the Grid Reference panel to the left of the map the grid reference resolution which you feel is most suited.
The 'base' layer is selected from the drop down box within the Map Controls>Layer panel - currently maps from Ordnance Survey or Google are available. There is a difference in the way the OS and Google display their maps (both projection and zoom levels) so the features when switching between the OS and any of the Google layers will not be an exact match. The grid reference and overlying grid are projected appropriately and display and return the correct values on each map.
The GridSquare layer is a simple thing which just follows the pointer around the screen highlighting the actual grid square - the resolution is chosen through the radio buttons in the Grid Reference panel. The AutoGrid layer displays a British National Grid overlay at a resolution suitable for the zoom level of the current map view. If you click on the '+' to the left of this layer you can toggle the display of coordinate values in metres for each grid line - which might be of some use to somebody.
The Measure Tools allow you to see either linear or area measurements simply by selecting the measurement type and clicking the mouse around the map. Double click the mouse to finish measuring.
The Map Tools are a group of general map navigation buttons which allow you to freely move around the map and zoom in/out. Hovering the mouse over each button gives a brief description of what it does. I find the easiest way to find a location is generally typing in either the postcode, a known grid reference or a placename and clicking the Go To Location button. If all else fails, try clicking the Full Extent button followed by the Zoom In button and then click and drag over the area you want to see. You can always bookmark as many locations as you want by clicking the Bookmark This View button, although it might be an idea to group these altogether in a separate Favourites folder before you start to accumulate a large number of different views.
You can now right click anywhere within the map view and this shows 'ClickBeetle', a right-click context menu which extends the functionality of GridRat.
GridRat has been set up to help users correctly report and find locations based on the Ordnance Survey's National Grid Reference System.
The help system is divided into sections corresponding to the actual headings seen in the Map Controls above. Click on the required 'help' heading below for an explanation of how to use the controls in that section.
The visible map is selected from the drop down box at the top of the section. Available maps are listed when you click on the down arrow. The currently selected map is always shown in the box.
The check boxes indicate the display state of each layer.
This is a report panel which displays the Grid Reference in a number of resolutions. If there is insufficient detail to determine a higher resolution grid reference then the Grid Reference at that resolution will not be displayed.
Displays linear and area measurements by selection of the appropriate radio button.
You can cut/paste or type up to 100 grid references into the box and then plot these as markers on the map. This is a quick visual check to ensure grid references all lie within an expected area. Typically a part or complete column from a spreadsheet would be pasted into here. For performance reasons this only displays on the OS OpenSpace layer and is limited to batches of 100 Grid References. These Grid References are displayed as simple markers for clear interpretation at all zoom levels.
A collection of tools for interaction with the current map.
Searches for location (placename or part placename, 'Earlsferry' or 'Earlsf'), postcode (full or partial, 'AB12' or 'AB12 3AB') or grid reference. The map zooms to a default level with the search location centred.
The placename search returns a list of places and this is displayed immediately below the 'Go To Location' button.
10/11/2010 - Preferred reference replaced by an Auto Select function. When checked, this reference is always in the selected state and ready to copy to the clipboard by simply pressing ctrl-c when hovering over any location of interest. Be aware that pasting the reference into another application will deactivate the browser window and any subsequent ctrl-c key combinations will relate to the active window - this is not necessarily the browser window. The browser window is reactivated usually by clicking anywhere in the window and this will then enable ctrl-c to copy the displayed reference. There's a wee bit of a performance hit so hence the checkbox to switch it off.
30/10/2010 - Latitude and Longitude added to list of coordinates reported (WGS84).
20/05/2010 - 'URL Mark' tool button allows you to select a location on the screen and generate a web address which can be pasted into any hyperlink or browser address bar to display that location.
21/02/2010 - 'Check Grid Refs' tool added to allow visual checking of a batch of grid reference locations. Currently limited to batches of 100 for performance reasons and displayed as simple markers for clear interpretation at all zoom levels.
09/02/2010 - 'ClickBeetle' a right-click context menu added to the map view.
Use the box below to submit comments, suggestions, feature requests and then click on the 'send...' button to fire this off into the ether...
This will cause your page to refresh and your map will return to your Default View if you have set one. You might want to Bookmark This View before continuing.
If you require a response then you'll need to include your e-mail address in the e-mail address box.