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gapins

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Iam new to this!!!!! When I serched for geocaches in my area I found several that were supposedly only a couple miles from my house. I downloaded the waypoints to a geocach to my gps, and when I hit "go to"

suddenly the geocach location is now 19 miles from my house. Can anyone explain this? I decided that I would then try to put the waypoints into Map Create and then I get an error message about longitude seconds >60. Help!!!

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Iam new to this!!!!! When I serched for geocaches in my area I found several that were supposedly only a couple miles from my house. I downloaded the waypoints to a geocach to my gps, and when I hit "go to"

suddenly the geocach location is now 19 miles from my house. Can anyone explain this? I decided that I would then try to put the waypoints into Map Create and then I get an error message about longitude seconds >60. Help!!!

 

With my Garmin60CSx the distance shown, to caches, and also on Groundspeak is "as the crow flies". There is one Cache near me that shows as being 1.8 miles, close huh, Wrong its on the other side of the lake and takes almost 45 minutes to get to it.

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Let your GPS acquire satellites so it knows where it is, before checking. If you turned it off some distance from your home and then turn it back on it will still think it is there, until it acquires satellites and gets a lock on its position. This may or may not be your problem. Dick

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Iam new to this!!!!! When I serched for geocaches in my area I found several that were supposedly only a couple miles from my house. I downloaded the waypoints to a geocach to my gps, and when I hit "go to"

suddenly the geocach location is now 19 miles from my house. Can anyone explain this? I decided that I would then try to put the waypoints into Map Create and then I get an error message about longitude seconds >60. Help!!!

 

I could run down every possible Datum/Format scenario. But it will be a lot easier to narrow down the exact problem if you give us an example of a cache you want to find, and EXACTLY how those coordinates are being entered (and subsequently displayed) in your GPS.

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I searched for geocaches near our home. I did this by entering my home zipcode and again with my home address and the geocaches I decided to try were "Whiskey" and "Romeo". It said that they were both within a couple miles of my home. I added the coordinates ( that were downloaded to my computer and opened with easygps) to my GPS (lowance Ifinder hunt c). I was at home when I did this and the GPS had aquired my location correctly. The distance given to the cach on my GPS was then 19 miles the "way the crow flies". I was confused by the difference in distance. Then I tried to enter the coodinates into my Map Create file on the computer. This is when I got the error message about entering Longitude >60 seconds.

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I searched for geocaches near our home. I did this by entering my home zipcode and again with my home address and the geocaches I decided to try were "Whiskey" and "Romeo". It said that they were both within a couple miles of my home. I added the coordinates ( that were downloaded to my computer and opened with easygps) to my GPS (lowance Ifinder hunt c). I was at home when I did this and the GPS had aquired my location correctly. The distance given to the cach on my GPS was then 19 miles the "way the crow flies". I was confused by the difference in distance. Then I tried to enter the coodinates into my Map Create file on the computer. This is when I got the error message about entering Longitude >60 seconds.

You have no cache finds or hides, so I can't determine a starting point for a quick search for "Whiskey" or "Romeo". Those caches will have waypoint numbers in the GC##### format. With those numbers/letters, or even better a link, we can look at the actual cache pages. Then you could tell us how the downloaded coords look in your GPS display. Then by making a comparison we might be able to explain a 19 mile discrepancy. It's probably a coordinate format issue, but I need ALL the precise info you can provide to pin it down.

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Make sure your GPS is using the correct map datum.

 

Make sure it is set to WGS84. Hard to tell you where to find that setting on your GPS without knowing what the unit is.

 

Gee, do you suppose it could be a lowance Ifinder hunt c? And a Datum error could explain a 200 foot error. NOT 19 miles. There have been quite a few unlikely or impossible guess theories posted here.

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I'm alittle new to this whole Geo-Caching thing so I'm not thinking on the same deep wavelength as the rest of you. I believe what his problem is is that his home computer is telling him "X" miles, "X" being the center of his zip code, while his GPS is giving him is actual distance. Hope you get it figured out. :laughing::huh:

Edited by VGFD612
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I searched for geocaches near our home. I did this by entering my home zipcode and again with my home address and the geocaches I decided to try were "Whiskey" and "Romeo". It said that they were both within a couple miles of my home. I added the coordinates ( that were downloaded to my computer and opened with easygps) to my GPS (lowance Ifinder hunt c). I was at home when I did this and the GPS had aquired my location correctly. The distance given to the cach on my GPS was then 19 miles the "way the crow flies". I was confused by the difference in distance. Then I tried to enter the coodinates into my Map Create file on the computer. This is when I got the error message about entering Longitude >60 seconds.

You have no cache finds or hides, so I can't determine a starting point for a quick search for "Whiskey" or "Romeo". Those caches will have waypoint numbers in the GC##### format. With those numbers/letters, or even better a link, we can look at the actual cache pages. Then you could tell us how the downloaded coords look in your GPS display. Then by making a comparison we might be able to explain a 19 mile discrepancy. It's probably a coordinate format issue, but I need ALL the precise info you can provide to pin it down.

There is a code number next to the description of the cach that starts with GC#####. If this is the one your talking about then the code for Whiskey is GC1JEVF and the code for Romeo is GC1JCK3. I typed in my zipcode which is 56304 and these two caches are supposed to be within a couple of miles. When I have my waypoint Information page up on my GPS it looks like this

 

N 45degrees(in symbol not words)50.780'

W 94degrees(in symbol not words)06.802'

 

There is not a degree symbol on the keyboard that I could find.

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That is weird. I am looking at the page for ROMEO right now, and it should be nowhere near 45° 50.780. If 56304 is Sauk Rapids or east St. Cloud, the cache should be near there.

 

From the error message you get about longitude > 60 seconds, I suspect something in EasyGPS is set to hemisphere degrees minutes seconds. H DDD° MM SS. What you want is hemisphere degrees decimal minutes. H DDD° MM.mmm. The format your GPS displays looks right, but the numbers after the degrees are, as you say, way off.

 

Try that.

 

BTW, to get the degrees sign: if you have Windows, hold down the alt key and type 0176 on the numeric keypad, then let go of the alt key.

Edited by msrubble
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My best guess is you just live about 19 miles from where Groundspeak's data base considers the center of the zip code. If you live about that far from the airport then I believe that's the answer. If that's right, then just do a search from the cords of you house or your address instead of your zip code. That should find some closer ones.

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I searched for geocaches near our home. I did this by entering my home zipcode and again with my home address and the geocaches I decided to try were "Whiskey" and "Romeo". It said that they were both within a couple miles of my home. I added the coordinates ( that were downloaded to my computer and opened with easygps) to my GPS (lowance Ifinder hunt c). I was at home when I did this and the GPS had aquired my location correctly. The distance given to the cach on my GPS was then 19 miles the "way the crow flies". I was confused by the difference in distance. Then I tried to enter the coodinates into my Map Create file on the computer. This is when I got the error message about entering Longitude >60 seconds.

You have no cache finds or hides, so I can't determine a starting point for a quick search for "Whiskey" or "Romeo". Those caches will have waypoint numbers in the GC##### format. With those numbers/letters, or even better a link, we can look at the actual cache pages. Then you could tell us how the downloaded coords look in your GPS display. Then by making a comparison we might be able to explain a 19 mile discrepancy. It's probably a coordinate format issue, but I need ALL the precise info you can provide to pin it down.

There is a code number next to the description of the cach that starts with GC#####. If this is the one your talking about then the code for Whiskey is GC1JEVF and the code for Romeo is GC1JCK3. I typed in my zipcode which is 56304 and these two caches are supposed to be within a couple of miles. When I have my waypoint Information page up on my GPS it looks like this

 

N 45degrees(in symbol not words)50.780'

W 94degrees(in symbol not words)06.802'

 

There is not a degree symbol on the keyboard that I could find.

Hi gapins

Zip Code 56304 is Saint Cloud, Minnesota. From there it is only about 6 miles Southeast to Cable, Minnesota. From Cable, Minnesota it is only a very short distance Southeast to WHISKEY (GC1JEVF). The coordinates for WHISKEY are N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' in the Geocaching standard Format of Degrees, Minutes, Decimal Minutes. The Degrees, Decimal Degrees equivilant of that exact same spot is N 45.507800° W 94.068017°. This places the cache very near the intersection of 42nd St Se & 45th Ave Se which is also very nearly intersected by a road numbered 10.

 

But look at the distance between the N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' and N 45° 50.780' W 94° 06.802' coordinates. It's 23.483 miles. Allowing a little bit of fuzz factor for distance from the zip code centerpoint, there is the 19 mile error. The cache page coordinates of N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' are being correctly converted to a different format of 45.50780° W 94.06802°. But then the digits of 45.50780° W 94.06802° are being incorrectly dumped into the GPS as N 45 50.780' W 94 06.802' (a 23.483 mile error).

 

With the proper conversion you can use any coordinate format you wish. But you can't just grab the digits from one format and cram them without proper conversion into a different format. You need to fix a software format setting somewhere. But don't feel bad. Look at all the impossible guesses that were provided by posters with very little more understanding of the process than you have.

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I searched for geocaches near our home. I did this by entering my home zipcode and again with my home address and the geocaches I decided to try were "Whiskey" and "Romeo". It said that they were both within a couple miles of my home. I added the coordinates ( that were downloaded to my computer and opened with easygps) to my GPS (lowance Ifinder hunt c). I was at home when I did this and the GPS had aquired my location correctly. The distance given to the cach on my GPS was then 19 miles the "way the crow flies". I was confused by the difference in distance. Then I tried to enter the coodinates into my Map Create file on the computer. This is when I got the error message about entering Longitude >60 seconds.

You have no cache finds or hides, so I can't determine a starting point for a quick search for "Whiskey" or "Romeo". Those caches will have waypoint numbers in the GC##### format. With those numbers/letters, or even better a link, we can look at the actual cache pages. Then you could tell us how the downloaded coords look in your GPS display. Then by making a comparison we might be able to explain a 19 mile discrepancy. It's probably a coordinate format issue, but I need ALL the precise info you can provide to pin it down.

There is a code number next to the description of the cach that starts with GC#####. If this is the one your talking about then the code for Whiskey is GC1JEVF and the code for Romeo is GC1JCK3. I typed in my zipcode which is 56304 and these two caches are supposed to be within a couple of miles. When I have my waypoint Information page up on my GPS it looks like this

 

N 45degrees(in symbol not words)50.780'

W 94degrees(in symbol not words)06.802'

 

There is not a degree symbol on the keyboard that I could find.

Hi gapins

Zip Code 56304 is Saint Cloud, Minnesota. From there it is only about 6 miles Southeast to Cable, Minnesota. From Cable, Minnesota it is only a very short distance Southeast to WHISKEY (GC1JEVF). The coordinates for WHISKEY are N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' in the Geocaching standard Format of Degrees, Minutes, Decimal Minutes. The Degrees, Decimal Degrees equivilant of that exact same spot is N 45.507800° W 94.068017°. This places the cache very near the intersection of 42nd St Se & 45th Ave Se which is also very nearly intersected by a road numbered 10.

 

But look at the distance between the N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' and N 45° 50.780' W 94° 06.802' coordinates. It's 23.483 miles. Allowing a little bit of fuzz factor for distance from the zip code centerpoint, there is the 19 mile error. The cache page coordinates of N 45° 30.468' W 094° 04.081' are being correctly converted to a different format of 45.50780° W 94.06802°. But then the digits of 45.50780° W 94.06802° are being incorrectly dumped into the GPS as N 45 50.780' W 94 06.802' (a 23.483 mile error).

 

With the proper conversion you can use any coordinate format you wish. But you can't just grab the digits from one format and cram them without proper conversion into a different format. You need to fix a software format setting somewhere. But don't feel bad. Look at all the impossible guesses that were provided by posters with very little more understanding of the process than you have.

 

I was messing around with my GPS and reading the user manual yesterday and found out that I can change my coordinate format in my GPS. When I tried this I ended up with much closer mileage, the right spot this time. I guess I should have done a little research. I didn't realize that there that many different formats. I also thought that the EasyGPS software had done that for me. So much for assumptions.

 

Is there one coordinate format which is more accurate than another?

 

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!

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Actually I think msrubble and ricrey99 are a bit out of order. Seems to me that Cardinal Red gave a very good analysis of what the problem could be. Much better that the grasp at straws previous responses. It appears that msrubble didn't have a clue what the problem was but was compelled to give a useless answer. It also appears that gapins actually did a little rtfm and found out that there were more than one choice to make when setting a datum on the gps unit. Perhaps you were expecting a "now take my hand while I show you how to set up your unit" response.

 

And to give the ubiquitous quote "just my opinion, mind you".

 

Jim

Edited by jholly
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Wow, I learned three things here.

 

1. "gapins" is a little smarter than the average geocacher.

2. "msrubble" is a people person and tries to help.

3. "Cardinal Red" is an a**hole.

 

Just my opinion mind you.

 

:laughing:

 

I learned one more.

 

A couple of folks are a little sensitive here. Cardinal Red spent quite a bit of time and research to find the right caches and gave what is probably the correct answer to the OP.

 

I didn't see anything that was abrasive with the possible exception of his comment that many of the other explanations were improbable which I tend to agree with him is likely a correct assumption.

 

But that is just my opinion mind you. And I don't normally agree with Cardinal Red.

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I don't always agree with Cardinal Red, but I don't see anything wrong with what he posted at all. And as others have pointed out, he actually seemed to go out of his way to do the research.

 

Edited to add:

And ricrey99, you might want to read the Forum Guidelines. Calling names is not appropriate no matter what the situation is "in your opinion".

Edited by Motorcycle_Mama
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I was messing around with my GPS and reading the user manual yesterday and found out that I can change my coordinate format in my GPS. When I tried this I ended up with much closer mileage, the right spot this time. I guess I should have done a little research. I didn't realize that there that many different formats. I also thought that the EasyGPS software had done that for me. So much for assumptions.

 

Is there one coordinate format which is more accurate than another?

 

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!

 

There isn't a coordinate position that is more accurate although one may have a higher resolution than another.

 

Most modern GPS units are accurate to 3 meters. If a coordinate has a resolution to 3mm it will still be limited by the 3 meter accuracy of the unit.

 

That being said the geocaching site uses the DD MM.MMM format. So that is what you are going to find that most people use.

 

As far as EasyGPS goes if you upload the coordinates instead of typing them in it will input the correct coordinates to the GPS. AFAIK the coordinates are always uploaded in DD.DDDD format and the GPS will display them in whatever coordinate you have selected. The GPS will convert all the waypoints that are in it to the coordinate that is selected. So if you have 36 24.115 inputed in DD MM.MMM and switch to DD.DDDD the GPS will display 36.4019 if you convert to DD MM SS it will read 34 24 06

 

Remember this for some puzzle caches.

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