GARS is primarily designed as a battlespace management tool and not to be used for navigation or targeting. This area reference system provides a common language between the components and simplifies communications. It is intended to provide an integrated common frame of reference for joint force situational awareness to facilitate air-to-ground coordination, deconfliction, integration, and synchronization. It uses the WGS 1984 Datum and is based on lines of longitude (LONG) and latitude (LAT). Under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction CJCSI 3900.01C dated 30 June 2007, GARS was adopted for use by the US DoD as 'the “area-centric” counterpart to the “point-centric” MGRS'. The Global Area Reference System ( GARS) is a standardized geospatial reference system developed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for use across the United States Department of Defense.
