Help with reading and figuring coordinates.

[+RockstarMom]

Hello,

 

I am having trouble trying to figure out coordinates and how to enter them into map programs.  For instance, I was hunting for a mystery cash the other day and the puzzle was to subtract something like 51 from the north coordinates. I couldn't figure out how to do this because none of the new coordinates made sense location wise so I am doing something wrong.

 

The posted N coordinates were N 42° 29.177'

 

Which part of that, would I have taken the 51 from? I am not sure how to set that up so it comes out correctly. So setting up a math  problem like that is my first issue. ( not the math =) )

 

Also, I  have tried a few other puzzles like this and I am bombing the GPS coordinate part. It seems there are multiple ways you can enter coordinates. I was trying to use google maps to enter new coordinates on another cache but I am missing something. Do you enter it just 42 29.177? Do I need to use N, North?  To my knowledge the degree symbol  isn't on the Iphone. Do I use the inches and feet symbol or the period?

 

Do you just use the geocaching app where there are waypoints and enter the new coordinates?

 

I also saw that some GPS coordinates may look like 42 ° 29'22"

 

So I'm not sure where to subtract/add or how to read these or convert them, or how to enter them into an app, a GPS, a mapquest, geocaching.com, etc. 

 

If someone would be as so kind to either tell me, point me to a post, or to a website that explains it in beginner language, I would be very grateful. I have tried to google it but I am not quite getting what I need from it.

 

Again, I appreciate your help. I LOVE the mystery and puzzle cache's and this is holding me and my daughter up.

 

Thanks 

Salina

Edited April 29, 2021 by RockstarMom
misspelling

[+niraD]

6 minutes ago, RockstarMom said:

I am having trouble trying to figure out coordinates and how to enter them into map programs.  For instance, I was hunting for a mystery cash the other day and the puzzle was to subtract something like 51 from the north coordinates. I couldn't figure out how to do this because none of the new coordinates made sense location wise so I am doing something wrong.

 

The posted N coordinates were N 42° 29.177'

 

Which part of that, would I have taken the 51 from? I am not sure how to set that up so it comes out correctly. So setting up a math  problem like that is my first issue. ( not the math =) )

Based on the multi-caches and puzzle caches that I've done, I would subtract 51 fromm the thousandths of a minute. In other words:

 

        N 42° 29.177'
                - 51'
        N 42° 29.126'

 

FWIW, that's a difference of about 300 feet, which is a reasonable offset between posted coordinates and the actual location.

 

6 minutes ago, RockstarMom said:

Also, I  have tried a few other puzzles like this and I am bombing the GPS coordinate part. It seems there are multiple ways you can enter coordinates. I was trying to use google maps to enter new coordinates on another cache but I am missing something. Do you enter it just 42 29.177? Do I need to use N, North?  To my knowledge the degree symbol  isn't on the Iphone. Do I use the inches and feet symbol or the period?

The degree symbol is often optional. The minute symbol is often optional. The decimal (period) is essential.

 

Degrees and hours work pretty much the same way, so the way you would handle time is the same as the way you would handle GPS coordinates. One hour is 60 minutes, just as one degree is 60 minutes. And one minute is 60 seconds.

 

So you might think of five and a half minutes as 5.5', or you might think of it as five minutes and 30 seconds, or 5' 30". It's the same amount of time, but the notation is different. And removing the decimal from 5.5' will give you the wrong value.

 

6 minutes ago, RockstarMom said:

Do you just use the geocaching app where there are waypoints and enter the new coordinates?

I usually use a geocaching app, but I've usually used a third-party app rather than Groundspeak's Geocaching app. See the list of third-party apps here:

https://apidevelopers.geocaching.com/all-api-partners

 

For solved puzzles, I enter the solved coordinates on the web site, and then those coordinates appear on my device (whether that's a handheld GPS unit or an app on my phone). See the Help Center article Enter solved coordinates for Mystery Caches.

 

6 minutes ago, RockstarMom said:

I also saw that some GPS coordinates may look like 42 ° 29'22"

Yes, that's 29 minutes, 22 seconds. That is the same as 29.367 minutes, and is different from 29.22 minutes.

 

See also the Help Center article Coordinate formats.

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, RockstarMom said:

Hello,

 

I am having trouble trying to figure out coordinates and how to enter them into map programs.  For instance, I was hunting for a mystery cash the other day and the puzzle was to subtract something like 51 from the north coordinates. I couldn't figure out how to do this because none of the new coordinates made sense location wise so I am doing something wrong.

 

The posted N coordinates were N 42° 29.177'

 

Which part of that, would I have taken the 51 from? I am not sure how to set that up so it comes out correctly. So setting up a math  problem like that is my first issue. ( not the math =) )

 

Also, I  have tried a few other puzzles like this and I am bombing the GPS coordinate part. It seems there are multiple ways you can enter coordinates. I was trying to use google maps to enter new coordinates on another cache but I am missing something. Do you enter it just 42 29.177? Do I need to use N, North?  To my knowledge the degree symbol  isn't on the Iphone. Do I use the inches and feet symbol or the period?

 

Do you just use the geocaching app where there are waypoints and enter the new coordinates?

 

I also saw that some GPS coordinates may look like 42 ° 29'22"

 

So I'm not sure where to subtract/add or how to read these or convert them, or how to enter them into an app, a GPS, a mapquest, geocaching.com, etc. 

 

If someone would be as so kind to either tell me, point me to a post, or to a website that explains it in beginner language, I would be very grateful. I have tried to google it but I am not quite getting what I need from it.

 

Again, I appreciate your help. I LOVE the mystery and puzzle cache's and this is holding me and my daughter up.

 

Thanks 

Salina

It’s best to contact the Cache Owner about this.  There’s no standard way to “add 51” to degrees and decimal minutes.  Sometimes the math for the coordinates is part of the puzzle.  If instead, the Cache Owner expects you to just know how to add 51 to coordinates, that’s sloppy, and needs to be made more clear.  You’re confused, lots of people also will be confused.

 

On my caches where numbers may require math, I stated the task a couple of different ways.  On one, I made a form that could be printed that also shows where the numbers go.  If that part is supposed to be the easy part, the necessary info should be right there on the cache page.

[+DyverDown]

As far as how coordinates are entered, you may want to read something about coordinate notation.... it all depends on how your recording them (the coords) most use DMS (Degrees, minutes, seconds) 

 

Coordinates are made up of 2 parts, the North/South part (you gave N 42° 29.177') and a East/West Part to give a location on earth.  As an example if ywe use your example: N 42° 29.177' and pick some west coord of W080 01.000 it can be written as:

 

Decimal degrees	N42.48628° W080.01667°
Degrees and decimal minutes	N42° 29.177' W080° 01.000'
Degrees, minutes and seconds	N42° 29' 10.620'' W080° 01' 00.000''

 

 

All of these denotre the same plac eon the earth, but written different ways.

 

As for adding / subtracting numbers to the coords, as a general rule if it's a simple puzzle then it's probably the number given divided by 1000 and then added / subtracted to the listed coords....like niraD said:

 

N 42° 29.177'

-              .051 (51 / 1000)

N 42° 29.126'

 

Things start becoming more complicated when you add/subtract to the Minutes portion as it "rolls over into the degrees" at 60 (base 60)

so N 42° 59.177'

+                 1.001

     N 43° 00.178'

 

But youll get there in time....

 

Try, as was suggested emailing the owners of the caches, they are usually quite helpful.... there is not much sense putting out a cache that no one is going to find.... they want you to solve it!

 

Normally I'd suggest partnering up with another/ (other(s) caches to solve some puzzle finds first to help understand the solutions, but with covid, that may be impossible, as well as attending events where you cna learn a lot....

 

DD

 

[+RockstarMom]

Thank you to everyone who offered me help! I was wondering why some things may say 37" instead of just sticking with 3' 1" but knowing that it's the same either way makes things a lot simpler!

 

Again, thank you for the help and for all of the links.

 

Now to rectify a few DNF's!

 

Salina