Projecting waypoints over long distances

[4wheelin_fool]

Suppose you have 2 waypoints and you would like to project a line over a very long distance.

 

Is anyone aware of an online program that will do this? I'm planning to use it in a puzzle cache if it is available. It would be nice to enter 2 sets of coords and draw a line with them.

 

Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thanks !

[+BoMS]

Per from crumlin has made an online geodetic calculator. The manual is only in Danish though.

 

I know it can do the calculations you need, but I don't know if you'll be able to understand anything.

 

\Mette

Edited October 29, 2010 by BoMS

[+addisonbr]

There may be other ways to do this, but I've wanted to do this a couple of times and have a KML file that does the trick. Try copying this code into Notepad and saving it as a *.KML file, then opening it in Google Earth. It should draw a line between the Original Stash Plaque, Groundspeak HQ and Project APE Mission 9.

 

The format is a little different than how we normally look at coordinates - they are in decimal format (DD.DDDDD vs. DD MM.MMM) and the Easting is listed before the Northing. But other than that I think you'll find it pretty straight-forward.

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml>
 <Document>
<Placemark>
  <LineString>
	<coordinates>

-122.413333,45.291	  <!-- Original Stash Plaque -->
-122.333333,47.6333333  <!-- Groundspeak HQ -->
-121.455083,47.3919	 <!-- Project APE Mission 9 -->

	</coordinates>
  </LineString>
</Placemark>
 </Document>
</kml>

[ao318]

I use "FizzyCalc" to get the coordinates and then I use Google Earth to view the line from the 2 coordinates.

Edited October 29, 2010 by ao318

[+Packanack]

You can do it over national geographic topo maps.

 

And I am sure you could probably do it with other mapping software.

[+Viajero Perdido]

A while ago I tried looking for an online program - something similar to FizzyCalc - to accurately do a very long projection from a given point. This was to solve a puzzle. I couldn't find anything suitable online, and the idea of downloading .EXEs, even from well-regarded sources, just makes me kind of itch all over.

 

I'll be watching this thread with interest. Hopefully someone can answer the OP's question, and/or mine.

[+addisonbr]

A while ago I tried looking for an online program - something similar to FizzyCalc - to accurately do a very long projection from a given point. This was to solve a puzzle. I couldn't find anything suitable online, and the idea of downloading .EXEs, even from well-regarded sources, just makes me kind of itch all over.

 

I'll be watching this thread with interest. Hopefully someone can answer the OP's question, and/or mine.

Can you describe more specifically what you're trying to do?

[+Viajero Perdido]

Can you describe more specifically what you're trying to do?

Project [distance] at [degrees] from [location] using [x] highly-accurate calculation method.

 

EG, what your typical Garmin will do, but much more accurately and with more decimal places.

 

Thanks in advance.

[+addisonbr]

Can you describe more specifically what you're trying to do?

Project [distance] at [degrees] from [location] using [x] highly-accurate calculation method.

 

EG, what your typical Garmin will do, but much more accurately and with more decimal places.

 

Thanks in advance.

Try this link - you're looking for the calculator at the bottom of the page ("Find the coordinates at a given distance and bearing"):

 

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators

[+Viajero Perdido]

Thanks. It may not have the accuracy I'm looking for (as suggested by the lack of choice of calculation method), but I'll give it a whirl.

 

Cheers, VP

[+addisonbr]

To calculate the distance between two points they use the Vincenty Formula: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong-vincenty.html

 

But I'm not entirely certain if they use the same methodology for waypoint projections.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Make sure you let people know if you're using flat earth projections versus globe earth projections. Can make a big difference.

[+E = Mc2]

I'm a bit confused. The title of the thread makes me believe that you want to find a waypoint based on a given waypoint and the distance and bearing to the second. You can use the FCC's website to Find Terminal Coordinates for that. One must convert the DD MM.MMM coordinates we use into Degrees, Minutes, Seconds, but it does work. Keep in mind that this is also using the 'Great Circle' method, so simply drawing a line on a paper map will yield different results.

 

If you want to find the distance and azimuth between two coordinates, you can use this tool, also at the FCC website.

[+fizzymagic]

I really should do an online version of FizzyCalc. In the meantime, look for places that use the Vincenty method.

[+ZeLonewolf]

Also, note that there's a few methods to do this. Do you want constant bearing? Initial bearing with great circle line (the usual case)? etc. Projecting lines on a "sphere" makes the lines do funny things.

[+fizzymagic]

Also, note that there's a few methods to do this. Do you want constant bearing? Initial bearing with great circle line (the usual case)? etc. Projecting lines on a "sphere" makes the lines do funny things.

 

It's true there are several ways to do this, but there is only one correct way.

 

Rhumb lines (constant bearing) and approximate great circles are not geodesics, which means (for mathematical reasons) they are not proper "distances." You could define a distance measure as the distance in 3-D Cartesian space (i.e. a straight line through the Earth) but that is not very useful

 

So when somebody says to project a distance at a bearing, it should be unambiguous: use the WGS84 ellipsoid and the Vincenty projection method.

[4wheelin_fool]

Thanks for all of the helpful info posted in this thread.

 

I am looking for interesting places on the ley lines which run from both of the great pyramids. In the ancient days they were both regarded as "twin towers",because the apex of each were at the same height. The bigger one has always been regarded as "great", but it is only larger because it was built on lower ground.

 

A ley line running between the 2 pyramids and bisected at a square 90 degree angle going to the southeast seems to run directly to where the kaaba (cube) of Mecca is positioned. Since it is exactly 800 miles away, it seems to be done on purpose rather than cooincidental.

 

Most of the info on ley lines such as :http://survivalcell.blogspot.com/

 

are interesting, but are based on only one pyramid, rather than both.

[+GeoGeeBee]

 

A ley line running between the 2 pyramids and bisected at a square 90 degree angle going to the southeast seems to run directly to where the kaaba (cube) of Mecca is positioned. Since it is exactly 800 miles away, it seems to be done on purpose rather than cooincidental.

 

 

Done on purpose by whom? The people who built the pyramids, or the people who built the kaaba? And how could they deliberately make the distance "exactly 800 miles" when the mile hadn't been invented yet?

[Andronicus]

Since it is exactly 800 miles away, it seems to be done on purpose rather than cooincidental.

Realy? Realy? When was the mile defined (Wikipedia states 1592 By Queen Elizibeth I of England)? When was that thing in Mecca built (Wikipedia says prior to 200AD)?

 

Maybe Queen Elizibeth I desided to make a mile 1/800 that distance? Or maybe that blogg is full of ballony.

[+John in Valley Forge]

Try this link - you're looking for the calculator at the bottom of the page ("Find the coordinates at a given distance and bearing"):

 

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators

 

I used this one a few weeks ago. My task was to project a line about 1,500 feet in a particular direction, from a known NGS Benchmark. My handheld GPS can only do up to 999 feet (after that is starts doing tenths of miles). It calculated it so perfectly that I tripped over the cache. I've kept it bookmarked for future use.

[4wheelin_fool]

 

A ley line running between the 2 pyramids and bisected at a square 90 degree angle going to the southeast seems to run directly to where the kaaba (cube) of Mecca is positioned. Since it is exactly 800 miles away, it seems to be done on purpose rather than cooincidental.

 

 

Done on purpose by whom? The people who built the pyramids, or the people who built the kaaba? And how could they deliberately make the distance "exactly 800 miles" when the mile hadn't been invented yet?

 

Good question. I assumed the mile had been around awhile, but I had not researched it. I knew that he 'inch' is a form of imperial measure which is in the pyramids. The pyramid inch, sacred jewish inch, and the modern inch are only a tiny fraction different from each other and most likely have a common origin.

 

When I initially measured the distance, it was an inaccurate method with soft coords, and I had to use a second site to convert the meters into miles, but it said 800.000228 and it seemed close enough. I tightened up the coords and using the most accurate vincentry method it is 799.857468 mi. The great circle method said 800.285711 mi, and the Rhumb line was 800.431045 mi. It is at least .14 off by the most accurate method, which is not that much but not close enough to make it conclusive.

 

Since it is exactly 800 miles away, it seems to be done on purpose rather than cooincidental.

Realy? Realy? When was the mile defined (Wikipedia states 1592 By Queen Elizibeth I of England)? When was that thing in Mecca built (Wikipedia says prior to 200AD)?

 

Maybe Queen Elizibeth I desided to make a mile 1/800 that distance? Or maybe that blogg is full of ballony.

 

Perhaps the mile was being already used unofficially and it was only made official in 1592? I dont know. The distance did not come from the blog, but the idea of ancient ley lines did.

 

 

 

 

http://survivalcell.blogspot.com/

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalCell#p/a/u/2/7f969MVX4M0

[+GeoGeeBee]

The world is a big place, and there is a lot of stuff in it.

 

So much stuff, that if you take any "interesting" spot (no matter what you define as interesting), and project a line from it, that line will eventually intersect some other interesting spot. And it will do so at a distance that is close to a convenient multiple of some random unit of distance.

 

No prehistoric advanced technology conspiracy needed.

 

I bet one could come up with some interesting patterns using geocaches. (There, does that get the thread back on topic?)

[+dfx]

I bet one could come up with some interesting patterns using geocaches. (There, does that get the thread back on topic?)

you mean like around here?

 

i agree. it's always amazing to see how the human mind always desperately tries to put some kind of meaning in otherwise totally unrelated things.