+TeamOrville Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Hello I will be visiting London next week. I am from the US. I see that the coordinates are W000 - do I need to enter 3 zero's or will ONE be enough? Sounds like a silly question but here the numbers are W123. And when I go to Italy so I need to enter the zero before the 12? Thanks Sandi TeamOrville (1st time cacher abroad) Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Hello I will be visiting London next week. I am from the US. I see that the coordinates are W000 - do I need to enter 3 zero's or will ONE be enough? Sounds like a silly question but here the numbers are W123. And when I go to Italy so I need to enter the zero before the 12? Thanks Sandi TeamOrville (1st time cacher abroad) One should be enough but on my Etrex Vista it requires you to fill in all fields so three are required, so I guess it depends on your GPS and it's particular foibles. Quote Link to comment
+NattyBooshka Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Depends... the eTrex will go by it's last known co-ordinates... program it in London and you'll already have the first two zeros! Quote Link to comment
Copepod Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Actually, although most of London is W 000, some co-ordinates in London are East of Greenwich meridian, so will be E 000. Greenwich is definitely worth a visit for the Observatory, Maritime Museum etc. All co-ordinates in Italy are E... Quote Link to comment
+NattyBooshka Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Actually, although most of London is W 000, some co-ordinates in London are East of Greenwich meridian, so will be E 000. Greenwich is definitely worth a visit for the Observatory, Maritime Museum etc. All co-ordinates in Italy are E... Is there a difference between E000 00.000 and W000 00.000? I only ask because Greenwich Observatory doesn't show either. Quote Link to comment
+webscouter. Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Greenwich Observatory is actually W of the 00 00.000 coordinates. Take the trip of the observatory and find out why. Also you need to look at the Harrison Clocks. They are what made accurate navigation around the world possible. Quote Link to comment
+NattyBooshka Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Greenwich Observatory is actually W of the 00 00.000 coordinates. Take the trip of the observatory and find out why. Also you need to look at the Harrison Clocks. They are what made accurate navigation around the world possible. Thanks for the info... but apparently the prime meridian does not read W/E 00 00.000 on a GPSr for some reason... never been, so have no first hand proof... anyone know why? Quote Link to comment
+webscouter. Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Yep, I know why. You can find out at the Observatory or if you really want to know you can send me a PM and I will let you know. Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Greenwich Observatory is actually W of the 00 00.000 coordinates. Take the trip of the observatory and find out why. Also you need to look at the Harrison Clocks. They are what made accurate navigation around the world possible. Thanks for the info... but apparently the prime meridian does not read W/E 00 00.000 on a GPSr for some reason... never been, so have no first hand proof... anyone know why? Well the prime meridian for several hundred years is denoted by a line at the Observatory where everyone gets their picture taken. When the datum lines for modern times were set the meridian was placed about 80m E of the observatory, and there's nothing to mark it. When you cross the meridian in the middle of the park the GPS does flip from E to W but I can't remember whether it showed E/W 000 00.000 at any point. Quote Link to comment
+dfx Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 (edited) Is there a difference between E000 00.000 and W000 00.000? I only ask because Greenwich Observatory doesn't show either. W and E are like positive and negative numbers (same for N and S). So there's no difference between E 000 00.000 and W 000 00.000 as +0 = -0. But for any non-zero numbers, there is quite a lot of difference Thanks for the info... but apparently the prime meridian does not read W/E 00 00.000 on a GPSr for some reason... never been, so have no first hand proof... anyone know why? Because GPS/WGS84 doesn't use the Greenwich meridian as its prime meridian, but rather the IERS Reference Meridian, partly for historical reasons. Edited June 10, 2011 by dfx Quote Link to comment
+NattyBooshka Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Is there a difference between E000 00.000 and W000 00.000? I only ask because Greenwich Observatory doesn't show either. W and E are like positive and negative numbers (same for N and S). So there's no difference between E 000 00.000 and W 000 00.000 as +0 = -0. But for any non-zero numbers, there is quite a lot of difference Thanks for the info... but apparently the prime meridian does not read W/E 00 00.000 on a GPSr for some reason... never been, so have no first hand proof... anyone know why? Because GPS/WGS84 doesn't use the Greenwich meridian as its prime meridian, but rather the IERS Reference Meridian, partly for historical reasons. Hat's off. Well played. Quote Link to comment
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