It should be possible to process a position file to get a “Street Grid” e.g. “you will find C1’s footprint in this square cm box”. This would be useful when hand-placing of components.
Example
Item C1, location (2, 6) —> C1 is somewhere in a box bounded by 2…3cm “X” and 6…7cm “Y”
Or, perhaps better as “C6”.
Has this been done already, eg in a script?
Have you tried https://github.com/openscopeproject/InteractiveHtmlBom/ plugin?
I haven’t heard of a “Street Grid” kind of script or other functionality.
Yes, I used to use that, I can not recall if it included the ‘Grid’ feature I mentioned.
Can you describe more accurately how that would be used?
This is a case where a fabrication print of the board layout using the worksheet borders would be useful. What I think the OP is referring to by “Street Grid” (I also don’t know what the “proper” term is for this) is the coordinates of areas of the board as defined by the numbering in the worksheet boarders. Usually numeric on one direction and alphabetic in the other. It helps to locate a small part on a large design when looking at a printed blueprint to have those grid subdivisions.
If you remember printed maps and atlases, they used a similar technique. Especially atlases because in the back would be an index of map features (road names, towns/villages, mountain peaks, etc). Not only would the page number of the map those features were on be given, but also the grid coordinates on that page.
Hardly anyone prints board layouts anymore so this technique has fallen into disuse and obscurity.
@741 If possible for your application, I would also suggest that you check out the InteractiveBOM plugin that @eelik linked to, above. This plugin creates a dynamic HTML file that can be loaded into any modern browser. It includes views of the board, and when you hover over components in the BOM list it will highlight them on the board view. As it works in any modern browser, the end-user doesn’t need to have KiCAD installed so it is usable on platforms where KiCAD isn’t available (like tablets).
Yes, that is correct (of course, I would not need to physically “print” onto paper).
See my edit, above, that I wrote after you replied.
Ah! – Many thanks eelik & SembazuruCDE 
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