Cord Conversion Problem! HELP!

[+subsystem]

I have been searching the web for a way to convert some surveying cords for property boundary markers, i have been unable to locate the markers of rebar due to the fact that there is alot of Iron Slag in the area which causes my metal detector to go crazy. so as a last resort to getting close to the area to locate the Rebar i am trying to convert the official cords from the survey papers which are in Degrees, feet, inches to Degrees, min.

 

The cords are N 34° 19' 27" E 54.94"

 

Any Idea's on how to convert or read this?

[+LifeOnEdge!]

I have been searching the web for a way to convert some surveying cords for property boundary markers, i have been unable to locate the markers of rebar due to the fact that there is alot of Iron Slag in the area which causes my metal detector to go crazy. so as a last resort to getting close to the area to locate the Rebar i am trying to convert the official cords from the survey papers which are in Degrees, feet, inches to Degrees, min.

 

The cords are N 34° 19' 27" E 54.94"

 

Any Idea's on how to convert or read this?

 

Unfortunately this isn't degrees, feet, and inches. Those are apples and oranges (different units)

 

What you are seeing is Degrees, minutes, and seconds of arc. NO! We are not talking about time here.

 

360 degrees = one circle

 

60 minutes of arc = 1 degree of arc

 

60 seconds arc= 1 minute of arc

 

You're obviously left something out in the East coordinates. There needs to be DD MM ss.sss as in the first number. Lets look at that for a moment, since there are numbers there we can chew on.

 

N 34° 19' 27" Where do you want to go with this?

 

How about DD MM.mmm (degrees, minutes, decimal minutes)

 

27/60= .45 so 27" equals 0.450' (minutes of arc)

 

So N 34° 19' 27" is the same as N 34° 19.450'

 

Notice that the minutes ( ' symbol ) is always 59 or less.

Notice that the seconds ( " symbol) is always 59 or less.

 

Degrees of arc North or South is always 90 degrees or less. This is why you see N expressed as two numbers, while W is expressed as three numbers with a leading zero if the number is less than 100 degrees.

 

Degrees of arc East or West can be any positive number, but will generally be expressed as 180 degrees or less. If the West (or East) coordinate exceeds 180 degrees, that number is subracted from 360 degrees and then expressed in the other direction. 190 degree East is the same as 170 degrees West.

 

You can take this further, if you care to. Let say you want it expressed as Degrees and decimal degrees, or DD.ddd. Take the minutes 19.450 and divide this by 60 to get the decimal portion of the degrees. Take that number and add it to the whole degrees, 34, to get the complete number.

 

19.450/60 = 0.32417 so the final number is N 34.324°

 

I hope that helps.

Edited May 3, 2008 by LifeOnEdge!

[+Tiny Dancer]

Go to any cache page. Next to the lat/lon you will see a link

 

N 39° 36.318 W 105° 01.304 other conversions...

 

click on the "other conversions" and you will go to a conversion page that Groundspeak has. It allows you to input the coordinates you have and convert them to what ever you want. (within reason)

Edited May 3, 2008 by Tiny Dancer

[jholly]

I have been searching the web for a way to convert some surveying cords for property boundary markers, i have been unable to locate the markers of rebar due to the fact that there is alot of Iron Slag in the area which causes my metal detector to go crazy. so as a last resort to getting close to the area to locate the Rebar i am trying to convert the official cords from the survey papers which are in Degrees, feet, inches to Degrees, min.

 

The cords are N 34° 19' 27" E 54.94"

 

Any Idea's on how to convert or read this?

 

FizzyCalc

Edited May 3, 2008 by jholly

[+Cardinal Red]

I have been searching the web for a way to convert some surveying cords for property boundary markers, i have been unable to locate the markers of rebar due to the fact that there is alot of Iron Slag in the area which causes my metal detector to go crazy. so as a last resort to getting close to the area to locate the Rebar i am trying to convert the official cords from the survey papers which are in Degrees, feet, inches to Degrees, min.

 

The cords are N 34° 19' 27" E 54.94"

 

Any Idea's on how to convert or read this?

 

I'll take a shot at this. These numbers probably are NOT coordinates. There is no conversion. This is probably a line call that you have somewhat mangled because you don't understand what you are looking at. But you have a lot of company. Half of the responders to this thread have no clue either. This is my best guess at making sense of what you have provided, based on what I have seen in the past.

 

This is a line 54.94 feet long. It is indicating a line projecting into the NorthEast quadrant. If you knew where it was, you could stand at the pin on the Southernmost end of the line. To find the other end from there, Face North (probably magnetic North). Rotate clockwise (East) 34 Degrees, 19 Minutes, 27 Seconds. Now pace off in that direction 54.94 feet to find the pin on other end.

 

You need to know where one pin is, and follow the line calls from pin to pin to pin.

There are only four varieties of line calls.

(1) - N specified angle E (face North, rotate East)

(2) - N specified angle W (face North, rotate West)

(3) - S specified angle E (face South, rotate East)

(4) - S specified angle W (face South, rotate West)

 

Did I manage to make any of this make sense? I have tracked down quite a few property pins, but you do need at least one known starting point. If the survey info is 50 years old, I determine the Magnetic Declination in that area at that time. I determine the Magnetic Declination now and note the declination differences. I factor in that info, and do a lat/long projection to a spot at the specified distance in the specfied direction. Good luck. Got any questions?

[cliff_hanger]

I'll take a shot at this. These numbers probably are NOT coordinates. There is no conversion.

 

After working for an RLS for a number of years, I agree that Cardinal Red is right on the money. The only thing I'm thinking is that the bearing is based on true north, not magnetic north. But, the OP definitely needs to find the coords of the starting point and then project waypoint(s) (using both magnetic N and true N just in case - although 54 feet is not gonna make too much difference) if he wants to use a GPS. Or he could buy a theodolite

Edited May 3, 2008 by cliff_hanger

[cliff_hanger]

oops sorry

Edited May 3, 2008 by cliff_hanger

[+subsystem]

I have been searching the web for a way to convert some surveying cords for property boundary markers, i have been unable to locate the markers of rebar due to the fact that there is alot of Iron Slag in the area which causes my metal detector to go crazy. so as a last resort to getting close to the area to locate the Rebar i am trying to convert the official cords from the survey papers which are in Degrees, feet, inches to Degrees, min.

 

The cords are N 34° 19' 27" E 54.94"

 

Any Idea's on how to convert or read this?

 

I'll take a shot at this. These numbers probably are NOT coordinates. There is no conversion. This is probably a line call that you have somewhat mangled because you don't understand what you are looking at. But you have a lot of company. Half of the responders to this thread have no clue either. This is my best guess at making sense of what you have provided, based on what I have seen in the past.

 

This is a line 54.94 feet long. It is indicating a line projecting into the NorthEast quadrant. If you knew where it was, you could stand at the pin on the Southernmost end of the line. To find the other end from there, Face North (probably magnetic North). Rotate clockwise (East) 34 Degrees, 19 Minutes, 27 Seconds. Now pace off in that direction 54.94 feet to find the pin on other end.

 

You need to know where one pin is, and follow the line calls from pin to pin to pin.

There are only four varieties of line calls.

(1) - N specified angle E (face North, rotate East)

(2) - N specified angle W (face North, rotate West)

(3) - S specified angle E (face South, rotate East)

(4) - S specified angle W (face South, rotate West)

 

Did I manage to make any of this make sense? I have tracked down quite a few property pins, but you do need at least one known starting point. If the survey info is 50 years old, I determine the Magnetic Declination in that area at that time. I determine the Magnetic Declination now and note the declination differences. I factor in that info, and do a lat/long projection to a spot at the specified distance in the specfied direction. Good luck. Got any questions?

 

 

I think that you are right.

Here is the directions. help me make sense of this please.

Thanks

 

"BEGINNING at a set rebar on the southeastern edge of a said along Freedom Avenue and marking the western corner of the here in described premises; thence along the southeastern edge of said sidewalk North 34º 19’ 27 East 54.94 feet to a set rebar; thence along lands now or formerly of Keith Wilson known as 524 East Freedom Avenue South 44º 14’ 27’ East (passing through a concrete monument on line at 4.84 feet) 214.96 feet to a set rebar; thence along Parcel B on aforesaid plan South 48º 30’ 00 West 48.80 feet to a set rebar; thence along the northeast edge of Poplar Street North 45° 41’ 30 West 201.80 feet to set rebar, the point and place of beginning. Containing 0.2456 acre and being designated Parcel A on aforesaid plan of subdivision. "

[+Cardinal Red]

I could try a more thorough explanation of Surveyors line calls. But, unless you can track down the Lat/Long of one or two corners it won't matter. These are not coordinates. They are position indicators relative to the previous position. You can't pull something out of nothing. You need a starting point.

 

I will say that the four line calls come back to the starting point and close to within 1/16th of an inch (that's good). And the total area is the advertised .2456 acres. Get me one or two pin positions and I'll tell you where to look for the other ones (subject to typical GPS error). If you can't come up with anything else, I can't help.