vixenmdh Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hello! I was so excited when I came across this I just had to try it for myself! I borrowed my parents Garmin eMap GPS, and plugged in a waypoint that wasn't too far from my house (within my zip) - except when I went to "GoTo", it took me 20 miles away! I thought the GPS was screwy, so I plugged in the same ##s in mapquest - same problem (20 miles away - definitely not within walking distance)! I clicked on the map on the geocach page, and the ##s are different than what's posted. One of them I *know* to be less than a mile away - I can tell by the title/hint. I thought this might just be a typo on this one, but when I searched again and put in the points for a different cach, same problem. The GPS knows my current location (I checked with the map there, and zoomed in almost all the way). What am I doing wrong? Both postings are by different people. Sincerely, Clueless in 32707 Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Make sure that the GPS is set to coordinates entered as h ddd mm.mmm (hemishere, degrees, minutes, decimal minutes). If is set to dd mm.ss or dd.ddddd, they won't match. Also, make sure that the GPS datum is set to WGS84. Another datum setting (like NAD27) will be off for the same coordinates (although not by anthing like 20 miles). I'm betting one (or both) of these will solve your problem. Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) Most likely, this is because your GPS is set to use a different method to express the coordinates. At Geocaching.com we use Degrees/Minutes/Decimal Minutes, and perhaps your GPS receiver is set for Degrees/Minutes/Seconds. Thus, 80 degrees, 20.500 minutes is the same as 80 degrees, 20 minutes, 30 seconds. If you input 80 20.500 into a GPS receiver that's set for D/M/S, you'll be directed to 80 degrees, 20 minutes, 50 seconds -- twenty seconds west of where you wanted to be. That is different than 20 miles, though. You should also check to confirm that your GPS receiver is set for the WGS84 datum, rather than any other datum. EDIT: Too long winded and too much detail to beat Sputnik. Edited November 3, 2005 by The Leprechauns Quote Link to comment
vixenmdh Posted November 3, 2005 Author Share Posted November 3, 2005 Yay!!!! It works now!!! It was the h ddd mm.mmm thing. Thanks everyone!!! Sincerely, Happy in 32707 Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Meepits say "YAY!" Quote Link to comment
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