QDGC
Encyclopedia
QDGC - Quarter Degree Grid Cells (or QDS - Quarter degree Squares) are a way of dividing the longitude
latitude
degree square cells into smaller squares, forming in effect a system of geocode
s. Historically QDGC has been used in a lot of African atlases. Several African biodiversity projects uses QDGC, among which The atlas of Southern African Birds is the most prominent one. In 2009 a paper by Larsen et al. describes the QDGC standard in detail.
QDGC represents a way of making (almost) equal area squares covering a specific area to represent specific qualities of the area covered. The squares themselves are based on the degree squares covering earth. Around the equator we have 360 longitudinal lines lines, and from the north to the south pole we have 180 latitudinal lines. Together this gives us 64800 segments or tiles covering earth. The form of the squares becomes more rectangular the longer north we come. At the poles they are not square or even rectangular at all, but end up in elongated triangles.
Each degree square is designated by a full reference to the main degree square. S01E010 is a reference to a square in Tanzania. S means the square is south of equator, and E means it is East of the zero meridian. The numbers refer to longitudinal and latitudinal degree.
A square with no sublevel reference is also called QDGC level 0. This is square based on a full degree longitude by a full degree latitude. The QDGC level 0 squares are themselves divided into four.
To get smaller squares the above squares are again divided in four - giving us a total of 16 squares within a degree square. The names for the new level of squares are named the same way. The full reference of a square could then be:
The number of squares for each QDGC level can be calculated with this formula:
number of squares = (2d)2
(where d is QDGC level)
Table showing level, number of squares and an example reference:
To decide which name a specific longitude latitude value belongs to it is possible to use this code:
Download shapefiles datasets for Africa, South America, India and China here:
An online service to upload and convert .dbf-files files is described on this webpage:
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
degree square cells into smaller squares, forming in effect a system of geocode
Geocode
GEOCODE is a standardized all-natural number representation format specification for geospatial coordinate measurements that provide details of the exact location of geospatial point at, below, or above the surface of the earth at a specified moment of time.Geocode is patented under US Patents...
s. Historically QDGC has been used in a lot of African atlases. Several African biodiversity projects uses QDGC, among which The atlas of Southern African Birds is the most prominent one. In 2009 a paper by Larsen et al. describes the QDGC standard in detail.
QDGC represents a way of making (almost) equal area squares covering a specific area to represent specific qualities of the area covered. The squares themselves are based on the degree squares covering earth. Around the equator we have 360 longitudinal lines lines, and from the north to the south pole we have 180 latitudinal lines. Together this gives us 64800 segments or tiles covering earth. The form of the squares becomes more rectangular the longer north we come. At the poles they are not square or even rectangular at all, but end up in elongated triangles.
Each degree square is designated by a full reference to the main degree square. S01E010 is a reference to a square in Tanzania. S means the square is south of equator, and E means it is East of the zero meridian. The numbers refer to longitudinal and latitudinal degree.
A square with no sublevel reference is also called QDGC level 0. This is square based on a full degree longitude by a full degree latitude. The QDGC level 0 squares are themselves divided into four.
| A | B |
| C | D |
To get smaller squares the above squares are again divided in four - giving us a total of 16 squares within a degree square. The names for the new level of squares are named the same way. The full reference of a square could then be:
- S01E010AD
The number of squares for each QDGC level can be calculated with this formula:
number of squares = (2d)2
(where d is QDGC level)
Table showing level, number of squares and an example reference:
| Level | Squares | Example |
| 0 | 1 | S01E010 |
| 1 | 4 | S01E010A |
| 2 | 16 | S01E010AD |
| 3 | 64 | S01E010ADC |
| 4 | 256 | S01E010ADCB |
| 5 | 1024 | S01E010ADCBD |
| 6 | 4096 | S01E010ADCDBA |
To decide which name a specific longitude latitude value belongs to it is possible to use this code:
Download shapefiles datasets for Africa, South America, India and China here:
An online service to upload and convert .dbf-files files is described on this webpage: