Palestine grid

The central meridian (the line of longitude along which there is no local distortion) was chosen as that passing through a marker on the hill of Mar Elias Monastery south of Jerusalem.

[1] The false origin (zero point) of the grid was placed 100 km to the south and west of the Ali el-Muntar hill that overlooks Gaza city.

[1] At the time the grid was established, there was no intention of mapping the lower reaches of the Negev Desert, but this did not remain true.

The Palestine grid is still commonly used to specify locations in the historical and archaeological literature.

If more precision is required, extra digits can be added to each coordinate; for example, 17241317 gives the Dome of the Rock to within 100 metres.