coordinates

[Kaybobco]

It has taken me a while to notice but the coordinates given on a geocaches site are not the same that are downloaded to my GPS when I click write. It caused me some confusion when I tried to find a cache that had been moved by its owner. New coordinates were given somewhat similar to the original coords but as I am trying to work with those I find the coordinates I have on my unit are fairly different. Looking up datum I learn that I have WGS84 datum on my unit but that is not what is given on the cache site. Is this a reason I am having trouble finding caches? Probably have located less than half of the caches I have searched for. What next?

[+Prime Suspect]

It has taken me a while to notice but the coordinates given on a geocaches site are not the same that are downloaded to my GPS when I click write. It caused me some confusion when I tried to find a cache that had been moved by its owner. New coordinates were given somewhat similar to the original coords but as I am trying to work with those I find the coordinates I have on my unit are fairly different. Looking up datum I learn that I have WGS84 datum on my unit but that is not what is given on the cache site. Is this a reason I am having trouble finding caches? Probably have located less than half of the caches I have searched for. What next?

This site does use the WGS84 datum. What you are probably seeing is a difference in format. There are a number of ways coordinates can be expressed, but they all point to the same location.

 

For example:

32.889922, -97.201117

N32 53.395', W97 12.067'

N32 53' 23.72", W97 12' 04.02"

all point to the same location.

[+Zac Young]

That's right! I fugured this out the hard way when my Dad borrowed my GPS and changed the format.