What Is Wgs-84 And What Can Translate It To Lat Lon?

[+Falcon Loader]

Hey folks, I've been used to Navigation for quite a while, but for some reason, until I got into GeoCaching never heard of (probably just never payed attention to) WGS-84 What is it all about? Also, is there a program that works easily to convert it to Lat Lon?

[+Klatch]

Hey folks, I've been used to Navigation for quite a while, but for some reason, until I got into GeoCaching never heard of (probably just never payed attention to) WGS-84 What is it all about? Also, is there a program that works easily to convert it to Lat Lon?

 

Well, I will give this a shot. Someone will probably come along later with a more elegant answer. WGS-84 is map datum, I think it is World Geologic Survey, 1984. You want to make sure the datum set in the GPSr is the same as the map datum of the source of your coordinates or your position will be off. WGS-84 is the datum used by Geocaching.com and what you normally would want to use with your GPSr when you download coordinates from the site. No coordinate conversion is necessary, use the coordinates as posted on the cache pages.

[+Falcon Loader]

Hey folks, I've been used to Navigation for quite a while, but for some reason, until I got into GeoCaching never heard of (probably just never payed attention to) WGS-84 What is it all about? Also, is there a program that works easily to convert it to Lat Lon?

 

Well, I will give this a shot. Someone will probably come along later with a more elegant answer. WGS-84 is map datum, I think it is World Geologic Survey, 1984. You want to make sure the datum set in the GPSr is the same as the map datum of the source of your coordinates or your position will be off. WGS-84 is the datum used by Geocaching.com and what you normally would want to use with your GPSr when you download coordinates from the site. No coordinate conversion is necessary, use the coordinates as posted on the cache pages.

Thanks!

[+EraSeek]

Hey folks, I've been used to Navigation for quite a while, but for some reason, until I got into GeoCaching never heard of (probably just never payed attention to) WGS-84 What is it all about? Also, is there a program that works easily to convert it to Lat Lon?

 

WGS 84 is a map datum (reference point for making maps)

Lat/Long is a grid system. (For finding where you are on the map)

There is no conflict between the two. They work together.

Please read the folowing link and it will clear it all up for you:

 

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/measure.htm

[+Kryten]

WGS84 stands for World Geoidal Survey the most recent of which was carried out in 1984. This invloved mapping the entire surface of the world from space using radar. Once the 3D picture of the world was recorded it was necessary to convert that data into 2D maps. If the world was a perfect sphere this would be very easy to do but since the world is not a perfect sphere it was first necessary to pick the regular spheroid that most closely resembled the actual earth's shape and then use that to translate the 3D survey information into 2D maps. This is called the datum.

 

Historically several different spheroids (datums) have been used. If you are making a map of an individual country then you can choose the spheroid that is the closest fit for that part of the earths surface in which you are interested but which may be a lousy fit elsewhere. If you are making a map of the entire world you have

to compromise as there are only a couple of spheroids that will do the job.

 

Your GPS receiver receives 3D positional information from space and needs to convert in a 2D latitude and

longitude. To do this accurately it needs to know which spheroid it should use to perform the translation.

When geocaching the persons hiding and seeking the cache must use the same spheroid which is why gc.com have standardised on WGS84.

 

However if you are navigating in a particular country using a paper map and you want to plot GPS positions

onto your map then you must use the same datum setting as was used by the map maker and this may not be WGS84. This is why your GPS provides lots of other datum settings but use the wrong one and you will get lost.

[+geognerd]

For the record, WGS84 stands for World Geodetic System 1984.