National Grid Coordinates?

NPR had a brief summary of the rationale for using national grid coordinates in mapping on their Weekend Edition, 2/25/06 - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5233408 . The story was mainly focused on emergency/disaster events, and the problems encountered with everyone using either a different grid system or just still using street addresses. NOAA has a web site that further explains the national grid system - http://ngs.noaa.gov/TOOLS/usng.html . The NOAA site also posts interactive conversions and a conversion program for all of us who use other grid systems like UTM or lat/long. NOAA does say that although the national grid system can provide for whatever level of precision a user desires, we still may prefer to use the UTM format for applications requiring precision greater than 1 meter. Interesting...