dougandsonia Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 This is probably an old chestnut: maybe I'm just nuts. I realise the need for Lat Long on the Geocaching site, to provide a standard, but could we not also include the OSGB version as well? We're off to Phredd and Dotty land soon and thought we'd look to see which caches are around our holiday home. What a palaver - configure the Etrex, type in the frankly unwieldy Lat Long, reconfigure the Etrex. There are lots of caches in the area - what a time it took! This is not intended to criticise P&D or anyone else, but I would be interested in observations. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away. Quote Link to comment
+Geoffnco Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 Why not use Easy GPS? No conversions required, just download to PC and then to etrex. regards Geoff Quote Link to comment
chuffer Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 I agree.... OSGB coordinates would be an excellent idea. I'm currently constantly refering to an OS map and the conversion procedure is seriously finger numbing on my garmin12. Quote Link to comment
+jeremyp Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 quote:Originally posted by dougandsonia: We're off to Phredd and Dotty land soon and thought we'd look to see which caches are around our holiday home. What a palaver - configure the Etrex, type in the frankly unwieldy Lat Long, reconfigure the Etrex. Well I've figured out a few ways to alleviate the difficulty of entering coordinates. Firstly, your number 1 best way to solve this problem is to get a data cable and download EasyGPS. You need never enter cache loacations again. This has already been said on this thread, but I'd like to point out that it doesn't matter what datum your GPS is set to when you download coords to it so you can leave it on OSGB most of the time. Secondly to find caches near a point, you don't need an accurate set of coords. I usually figure it out to the nearest tenth of a degree (about 6 miles) which you can do off an OS map or road atlas (OS maps do have lat/long on them as well as normal grid refs) and type that into the goecaching search engine. Hope this helps a bit with the cramp in the thumb and fingers caused by Garmin's controls ------- jeremyp We're going to need a bigger boat! Quote Link to comment
+jeremyp Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 quote:Originally posted by dougandsonia: We're off to Phredd and Dotty land soon and thought we'd look to see which caches are around our holiday home. What a palaver - configure the Etrex, type in the frankly unwieldy Lat Long, reconfigure the Etrex. Well I've figured out a few ways to alleviate the difficulty of entering coordinates. Firstly, your number 1 best way to solve this problem is to get a data cable and download EasyGPS. You need never enter cache loacations again. This has already been said on this thread, but I'd like to point out that it doesn't matter what datum your GPS is set to when you download coords to it so you can leave it on OSGB most of the time. Secondly to find caches near a point, you don't need an accurate set of coords. I usually figure it out to the nearest tenth of a degree (about 6 miles) which you can do off an OS map or road atlas (OS maps do have lat/long on them as well as normal grid refs) and type that into the goecaching search engine. Hope this helps a bit with the cramp in the thumb and fingers caused by Garmin's controls ------- jeremyp We're going to need a bigger boat! Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 I use the Excel spreadsheet I have developed which allows me to lat/long (all formats) and convert to OSGB or vice versa. I can then key these in to easygps (a future version will do this automatically) and download them. Also it links to the OS site so you can print out a 1:50000 map of the area. Mail me if you would like a copy (it's free). Chris "We're not lost - we just don't know where we are" London & UK Geocaching Resources Quote Link to comment
+John Stead Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 I suggested inclusion of OS references on an earlier thread (much earlier!) and used to include them on my cache pages - but with mor familiarity with the GPS and associated programs have not found it necessary lately. But I like the idea of the spreadsheet to keep it all in order and my e-mail will shortly be on its way to Chris n Maria - thanks Oh and welcome to the NorthWest to dougandsonia. I hope you enjoy Phredd and Dotty's caches - we have - and you may enjoy my three in South Lancs while you are there. Quote Link to comment
Rob & Lisa Posted March 24, 2002 Share Posted March 24, 2002 The cache lists on our pages (click 'Rob & Lisa', then 'User Homepage' because the forums mess up the link) give eight character OSGB coordinates on the Streetmap column. I'll increase this to full GPS accuracy if people want to use it for this. Personally, I don't manually enter any coordinates - Everthing goes through the data cable. Ok, 10 metres. It's somewhere around here... Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted March 24, 2002 Share Posted March 24, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Rob & Lisa: eight character OSGB coordinates on the Streetmap column.._ Brilliant! Now there is a useful thing Chris "We're not lost - we just don't know where we are" London & UK Geocaching Resources Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted March 24, 2002 Share Posted March 24, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Rob & Lisa: eight character OSGB coordinates on the Streetmap column.._ Brilliant! Now there is a useful thing Chris "We're not lost - we just don't know where we are" London & UK Geocaching Resources Quote Link to comment
Rob & Lisa Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 Hi. I tried adding the extra four digits but it took up too much room and forced every row into a double line which looked a bit ugly. There is a bit of a workaround though if you are sitting at the computer putting the points in (rather than a printout). If you move your mouse over one of the streetmap links (ie "SE855874") and look at the status bar at the bottom of your browser you should see the StreetMap url which contains a section like "?X=485580&Y=487482". Just add the last two digits of both of those to get a full reference of "SE 85580 87482". Not the nicest way of doing things but should work. Ok, 10 metres. It's somewhere around here... Quote Link to comment
JasonW Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 Could you not drop the font size of the OSGB column ? (or insist that all your page viewers use larger screens with smaller fonts ) Quote Link to comment
JasonW Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 Could you not drop the font size of the OSGB column ? (or insist that all your page viewers use larger screens with smaller fonts ) Quote Link to comment
Rob & Lisa Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 Ok, I've now added the extra values to the OSGB coordinates. The problem was that it was breaking on the spaces I added but I've used 's instead and now it looks ok. Enjoy. Ok, 10 metres. It's somewhere around here... Quote Link to comment
+Gary & Jane Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 The problem with using OSGB coordinates to enter the cache location into a GPS unit is that you do not know the accuracy of the WGS-84 to OSGB conversion. For example there is a cache at N50°38.143 W002°07.548. My Garmin Etrex gives the OSGB coordinates as SY91201 81795. The true coordinates given by the OS's Grid InQuest tool are SY91199 81789 and the coordinates on Rob & Lisa's website are SY91217 81769. If your GPS unit does not use the same conversion method as the method used to supply the OSGB coordinates then you could find yourself searching in a larger area than required. Quote Link to comment
Moss Trooper Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 Come on guys.. how accurate do you want yer GPS to be.. or the Cache location. The difference between OS SY91201 and SY 91199 is 2 meters, thats better than yer GPS. From the other it's 16 meters, if you are a good mapreader and using 1:25,000 maps you will be luicky to get to within 20-25mtrs. And remember that as the sat's are not geostationary then by default the locations will change with time. Rewmember.. part of the game is the hunt.. Moss Moss de Boss... Sorta Quote Link to comment
+jeremyp Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 quote: And remember that as the sat's are not geostationary then by default the locations will change with time. The Ordnance Survey publishes a method for converting from WGS84 to OSGB36 and the stated accuracy of this method is about 5 metres on the ground which effectively meand the last digit of a grid ref is redundant i.e. for AB 12345 98765 you might as well forget about the "5"s. This is due to limitations of the mathematical model used. Actually the reason that WGS84 and OSGB36 coords are moving relative to each other is that OSGB36 does not take continental drift into account. In fact, in terms of WGS84, the UK is moving slowly North East but it is stationary in terms of OSGB36. quote:Remember.. part of the game is the hunt.. Could not agree more. ------- jeremyp We're going to need a bigger boat! [This message was edited by jeremyp on March 25, 2002 at 05:43 PM.] Quote Link to comment
chuffer Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 It would seem that the latest version of the software for the etrex Vista has the facility to display two postion formats at the same time. This means Lon/Lat and OSGB appear on the same screen. Quote Link to comment
chuffer Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 It would seem that the latest version of the software for the etrex Vista has the facility to display two postion formats at the same time. This means Lon/Lat and OSGB appear on the same screen. Quote Link to comment
+page28 Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 Hope they can do an update for the simple Etrex Quote Link to comment
+page28 Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 Hope they can do an update for the simple Etrex Quote Link to comment
Moss Trooper Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 It do an it does.. But only on the Trip Computer page Moss de Boss... Sorta Quote Link to comment
Moss Trooper Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 It do an it does.. But only on the Trip Computer page Moss de Boss... Sorta Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted April 12, 2002 Share Posted April 12, 2002 Just to let you all know that I have just released a new version of the spreadsheet which allows Conversion from DD MM SS, DD MM.MMM, DD.DDDD, UTM,UK National Grid to DD MM SS, DD MM.MMM, DD.DDDD, UTM, UK National Grid. The new version allows conversion of multiple waypoints and exports those points directly into EasyGPS Mail me if you would like a copy - for more info see the website below. Chris "We're not lost - we just don't know where we are" London & UK Geocaching Resources: http://www.sheps.clara.net Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted April 12, 2002 Share Posted April 12, 2002 Just to let you all know that I have just released a new version of the spreadsheet which allows Conversion from DD MM SS, DD MM.MMM, DD.DDDD, UTM,UK National Grid to DD MM SS, DD MM.MMM, DD.DDDD, UTM, UK National Grid. The new version allows conversion of multiple waypoints and exports those points directly into EasyGPS Mail me if you would like a copy - for more info see the website below. Chris "We're not lost - we just don't know where we are" London & UK Geocaching Resources: http://www.sheps.clara.net Quote Link to comment
dougandsonia Posted April 14, 2002 Author Share Posted April 14, 2002 Thank you all for your advice. I have now bought a suitable lead, along with car fag-lighter adaptor. Am just getting into GPSU, which looks very useful. Amazed at the extra bits I will soon be able to do! Anyone interfaced an etrex to a teasmade? The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away. Quote Link to comment
Tony & Bonnie Posted April 21, 2002 Share Posted April 21, 2002 Sorry for being slow to respond - we have included OS GR's from the beginning - please see SP1 to SP9 at the Lookout Nr. Bracknell We feel that at this relatively early stage, it is good to encourage [make it easier] for those who do not yet own a GPS Quote Link to comment
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