Coordinate Units

[enconwjc]

Given:

 

N 42° 06.416 W 071° 39.375

 

would these coordintes be:

 

N 42° 06.416 minutes W 071° 39.375 minutes

 

Most GPSs list minutes and seconds ... correct? so I'd need to convert this from minutes to minutes and seconds, correct? .... anyone have the conversion (if necessary).

 

Thanks

[+New England n00b]

Given:

 

N 42° 06.416 W 071° 39.375

 

would these coordintes be:

 

N 42° 06.416 minutes W 071° 39.375 minutes

 

Most GPSs list minutes and seconds ... correct? so I'd need to convert this from minutes to minutes and seconds, correct? .... anyone have the conversion (if necessary).

 

Thanks

An easier way would be to simply adjust your GPS settings to display DD MM.MMM format... What unit do you have?

[+Cardinal Red]

Yes you are correct. Those coordinates are in HDDMM.mmm

And the mmm does represent decimal minutes.

 

All GPS units CAN display Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds - but that is not the default.

The factory setting is usually the HDDMM.mmm you asked about.

 

Just changing from one format to the other on the GPS will automatically convert it for you.

There are also many converters available.

 

But in your example N 42° 06.416 W 071° 39.375

the conversion would be:

 

.416 times 60 = 24.96 - Round to 25

.375 times 60 = 22.5 - Round to 23

 

N 42° 06' 25" W 071° 39' 23"

[RubiconJW]

It's degrees / minutes / thousandhts of minutes.

 

A minute of latitude is very close to a nautical mile

nautical mile = 6076.12 ft

1 deg latitude = 6050.88

 

so.. 45d 42.898" compared to 45d 42.899"

the .898 and .899 are thousandhts of a degree

6050.88 x .898 = 5433.69 ft

6050.88 x .899 = 5439.74 ft

5439.74 - 5439.74 = 6.05 ft

therefore each one thousandth of a degree change on your GPSr is about 6 ft.

On the UTM setting the last digit is a meter

 

Hope I didn't totally confuse ya.. I spent too many years with a sextant.

 

..JW..

[+Markwell]

therefore each one thousandth of a degree change on your GPSr is about 6 ft.

 

That's only true for latitude distance, which are uniform. Here's a chart for distances of longitudes at various latitudes.

Edited May 4, 2006 by Markwell

[+StarBrand]

...Most GPSs list minutes and seconds ... correct? so I'd need to convert this from minutes to minutes and seconds, correct? .... anyone have the conversion (if necessary).

 

Thanks

incorrect - the default setting for the vast majority of newer GPSr's is for the DDD MM.MMM setting - so no need to translate. If not on your - check your book and see how to switch formats.