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Magnetic Or True North?


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Magnetic or True north won't make a difference for finding the caches, unless you have to follow a bearing for a Multi or Puzzle cache.

 

Are you sure your GPSr is setup properly?

 

Your GPSr should be set in the WGS84 datum and use the DD° MM.MMM coordinate format (Degrees Minutes DecimalMinutes).

 

If it has different settings, the coordinates won't match.

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Well, here's my issue I think.

 

I just went to geocaching.com and got this cache as an example..

 

Traditional Cache Housecleaning Cache

by TeamWidget [profile]

 

N 42° 13.946 W 070° 55.655

 

THEN I went to the map and it gives me....

 

Latitude: 42.232433

Longitude: -70.927583

Revise | New Map

 

THOSE ARE NOT CLOSE AT ALL. So which am I supposed to use? The coordinates or the Lat Long?

 

Thanks. Don't mean to be dense.

 

Jeff

 

http://www.alifeofplay.com

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Use the coordinates given on the cache page, and make sure that is the way your GPSr is set up.

 

N 42° 13.946 W 070° 55.655

 

If you download the .loc file and send the file to your GPSr using a program like EasyGPS, those are the numbers that will go to the GPSr.

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Well, here's my issue I think.

 

I just went to geocaching.com and got this cache as an example..

 

Traditional Cache Housecleaning Cache

by TeamWidget [profile]

 

N 42° 13.946 W 070° 55.655

 

THEN I went to the map and it gives me....

 

Latitude: 42.232433

Longitude: -70.927583

Revise | New Map

 

THOSE ARE NOT CLOSE AT ALL. So which am I supposed to use? The coordinates or the Lat Long?

 

Thanks. Don't mean to be dense.

 

Jeff

 

http://www.alifeofplay.com

 

Actually those coordinates are EXACTLY the same.

Just like 14 Days and 2 Weeks are EXACTLY the same.

42.232433 (Positive value = North)

.232433 times 60 = 13.94598 (rounds to 13.946)

 

-70.927583 (Negative value = West)

.927583 times 60 = 55.65498 (rounds to 55.655)

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Hey,

 

I'm WAY off when trying to find Waypoints and my GPS sometimes sees the numbers I find online as being too short or too long.

 

What's going on here?

 

And does it make any difference if my GPS is set for magnetic or true north?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

http://www.alifeofplay.com

 

Having just purchased a GPSr - "I can feel your pain" (how do you do an accent in text?) Anyway, here is your answer. There are thee means of exprssing latitude and longitude. the first is Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds. The next is Degrees and decimal minutes (that is the method used by geocaching.com). The last is decmial everything. You want to enter the method used by your GPSr. On some GPSr's you can change the method used. Others, like mine (a Lowrance iWay 100m) use just one method and cannot be changed.

 

And don't confuse the method of expressing a location with the coordinate system used to determine the location of latitude and longitude on the earth. You have to be certain you are using the same coordinate system as the system from which the coordinates were derived.

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Yup, think it is the same as 1 yard 1 and 3/4 foot is 57 inches ! or 2 gallons 3 quater and a half equal ???? pint and fluidic ounces ! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

By the way, all this crap is the same when you use Google earth were you can't display in DD MM.MMM. Pretty annoying.

 

Better use UTM which furthemore make it easy to detrmine distance on the ground. A good choice would also be grad or radians.

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As to the Magnetic/True north question. I like True north as the roads around here are laid out on that grid (when they aren't winding around the hills). Also if I reference a map (the paper kind, which I know dates me) it's also based on True north. If you carry a compass and use it, it depends if you can set the declination on it whether you use Magnetic/True (set dec, True; not set dec, Magnetic). Hope this helps.

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