What do the number meam?

[Burdie]

 

When I write in my ZIP code (80906) to look up sites, I find some information that is not clear to me. The first entry within my ZIP code is "Rob's Random Running Path".

 

The first unfamiliar notation is <0.2 mi. This obviously means that something is <0.2 miles away from something else. What is this 0.2 mi away from?

 

The next item that is confusing is the D/T entry. In this case they are (2.5/2.5). What do these represent?

 

The next item is the lat. and long. entry. In this case the latitude is 38 47.975. I understand that the 38 is the number of degrees north and that the 47 is minutes. What do the last three digits (.975) represent?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Bob

[+Jeep4two]

 

When I write in my ZIP code (80906) to look up sites, I find some information that is not clear to me. The first entry within my ZIP code is "Rob's Random Running Path".

 

The first unfamiliar notation is <0.2 mi. This obviously means that something is <0.2 miles away from something else. What is this 0.2 mi away from?

 

The next item that is confusing is the D/T entry. In this case they are (2.5/2.5). What do these represent?

 

The next item is the lat. and long. entry. In this case the latitude is 38 47.975. I understand that the 38 is the number of degrees north and that the 47 is minutes. What do the last three digits (.975) represent?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Bob

 

 

Hey Bob - Welcome to the forums:

 

First - you are right. The mileage notations are the distance to the cache from your coordinates (straight line distance - or 'as the crow flies'). In your case it's from the center of that Zip Code that you entered. It's really not that valuable a measurement when dealing with Zip Code - but when you have your home GPS coordinates entered it's more useful.

 

D/T = Difficulty and Terrain. These are on a scale of 1 - 5 with 1 being easiest and 5 hardest. a 5/5 is very difficult with very aggressive terrain.

 

The last part of the coordinates are the decimal values for the minutes. So 47.975 is 47 minutes an 975 thousands of a minute.

Edited April 17, 2009 by andynshe

[+briansnat]

The mileage when you do a zipcode search seems to be from an arbitrary point within the zipcode. In my town it's the same place that Mapquest starts you out if request directions using the town name rather than a specific address. I'm not sure how they arrive at that location either. It's not the post office, city hall or the geographic center as some have claimed. It may well be totally arbitrary.

 

If you want a more accurate distance enter your home coordinates and search from there

 

D T = Difficulty and Terrain. In short difficulty is how hard the cache is to find and terrain is how difficult it is to get there. Also a puzzle can add to the difficulty. 1 = piece of cake and 5 means something extraordinarily difficult. 5 for terrain could also mean that special equipment is required. Rock climbing gear, kayak, SCUBA and similar things.

 

Those are also minutes.