Ordnance Survey co-ordinates

[Guest jstead]

How do other Brits feel about putting OS coordinates on our Geocache site pages? One advantage is that it is easier to see how far you are from a waypoint from the figures as opposed to the GPS readout. Or does someone know an easy way to calculate distances between Lat/Long coordinates?

 

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John Stead

 

[This message has been edited by jstead (edited 15 August 2001).]

[Guest Monz]

That only holds true for you clever types that can read them paper thingys... errrrrm Maps, yes I'm sure that's what the're called

[Guest Moss Trooper]

No need to post the OS Grid refrence.. Just enter the lat/long as usual and then set the GPS to British Grid and the datum to Ord Srvy GB and gps will convert waypoints..

 

Besides.. Monz dunno what the paper things are for.. sept gettin caught short

 

Toodles.

 

[This message has been edited by Moss Trooper (edited 03 August 2001).]

[Guest Moss Trooper]

No need to post the OS Grid refrence.. Just enter the lat/long as usual and then set the GPS to British Grid and the datum to Ord Srvy GB and gps will convert waypoints..

 

Besides.. Monz dunno what the paper things are for.. sept gettin caught short

 

Toodles.

 

[This message has been edited by Moss Trooper (edited 03 August 2001).]

[Guest jstead]

Sure Moss, you can easily get the OS coordinates that way. But if you are lazy like me and usually have the GPS set to OS it means changing the settings twice - something like hard work.

Sorry Monz to offend by hinting at map work - I am a retired surveyor and so have had to use them all my life. Perhaps I can explain - yes a map is a big piece of paper but there are three important characteristics.

1. Where you are is always on the edge or at least on a fold.

2. It always blows away just when you have found where you are.

3. You left it at home when you most need it

 

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John Stead

[Guest jstead]

Sure Moss, you can easily get the OS coordinates that way. But if you are lazy like me and usually have the GPS set to OS it means changing the settings twice - something like hard work.

Sorry Monz to offend by hinting at map work - I am a retired surveyor and so have had to use them all my life. Perhaps I can explain - yes a map is a big piece of paper but there are three important characteristics.

1. Where you are is always on the edge or at least on a fold.

2. It always blows away just when you have found where you are.

3. You left it at home when you most need it

 

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John Stead

[Guest Monz]

I knew there were 3 good reasons why I never got into that paper stuff

[Guest Monz]

I knew there were 3 good reasons why I never got into that paper stuff

[Guest JasonW]

I have to admit when I go caching I always take the OS map, but only resort to looking at it if I think it's required (eg. to make sure I'm not going to end up on the wrong side of a river or a hill or something)

 

Everyone else seems to get along just fine with the WGS-84 - and swapping between co-ordinate systems can't be that big a deal - I've done it by accident once already which was a pain at the time as I was seeking and had changed to NAD27 and it was far enough out to put a cache in the sea

[Guest JasonW]

I have to admit when I go caching I always take the OS map, but only resort to looking at it if I think it's required (eg. to make sure I'm not going to end up on the wrong side of a river or a hill or something)

 

Everyone else seems to get along just fine with the WGS-84 - and swapping between co-ordinate systems can't be that big a deal - I've done it by accident once already which was a pain at the time as I was seeking and had changed to NAD27 and it was far enough out to put a cache in the sea

[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

Been meaning to ask you Brits about what mapping system used on your side of the "BIG POND". Is there an on-line site to find maps / charts of the UK ?

I think I might use a couple different map datums on a multi-leg cache just to weed out the neophyte GPS users ... ie; NAD27 Cuba or Easter Island 1967 or maybe ARC 1950-Botswana-Zimbabwe. It will probably put a few people 'through the looking-glass' or at least piss 'em off. I imagine I'll get flamed a few times for pulling a stunt like that.

[Guest Scottworld]

www.streetmap.co.uk

 

Will give you online access to the standard maps we get for road, walking / hiking maps.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cape Cod Cache:

Been meaning to ask you Brits about what mapping system used on your side of the "BIG POND". Is there an on-line site to find maps / charts of the UK ?

I think I might use a couple different map datums on a multi-leg cache just to weed out the neophyte GPS users ... ie; NAD27 Cuba or Easter Island 1967 or maybe ARC 1950-Botswana-Zimbabwe. It will probably put a few people 'through the looking-glass' or at least piss 'em off. I imagine I'll get flamed a few times for pulling a stunt like that.

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[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

thanks for the input.

[Guest jstead]

Thanks for the replies, especially to Scottworld for introducing me to www.streetmap.co.uk. I was going to suggest www.multimap.com to our Cape Cod friend as it has the advantage of aerial photographs of some urban areas but streetmap does seem to have clearer maps and easier access. There is also www.mapquest.com which has the advantage of linking directly from sites in www.confluence.org. If Cape Cod Cache want to know more about the UK Ordnance Survey, I suggest trying their site at www.ordnancesurvey.com!

 

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John Stead

[Guest Schwuk]

I'd like to thank Scottworld for Streetmap as well. I was using Multimap and Mapblast, but now Streetmap is my first port of call, as well as having Pocket Streetmap on my iPAQ.

 

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How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

[Guest Scottworld]

www.streetmap.co.uk

 

Has probably the best maps, as I think they are using the actual OS maps. Which show footpaths bridleways etc etc....

 

But I have found the Long / Lat is a bit weird I may have something to do with the Datum Format they require. But I punched in the coords for my cache and it was out by about 500 metres. Maybe someone can shed some light on it.

[Guest Scottworld]

Another one you can try.. if you want to find the nearest pub / restaurant / anything nearest to the cache you are looking for is... www.upmystreet.co.uk

Which basically will give you an amazing amount of local information.

 

Motto: Never go out for a cache without your GPS (and the location of the nearest pub....)

[Guest Scottworld]

OK now... I am just in a posting frenzy NOW.

If you want to see what the area looked like, say about 100 years ago etc etc...

try

 

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/

 

(Could be useful if you want to find an

Historic site for your cache.)

 

And the OS does have some mapping,

but I dont think it is as clear as streetmap, as I think they use 1:50000 scale

and streetmap uses 1:25000... (I think)

 

http://www.ordinancesurvey.co.uk/

[Guest Schwuk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Scottworld:

But I have found the Long / Lat is a bit weird I may have something to do with the Datum Format they require. But I punched in the coords for my cache and it was out by about 500 metres. Maybe someone can shed some light on it.

---

 

I've tried it with your cache - let me know if it is right...

 

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=494927&Y=156685&A=Y&Z=1

 

I put the co-ords in as N51:18:05 W00:38:23.

[Guest Scottworld]

Nope you are a little bit out.

(about 500 meters) I am sure if you go out there with the GPS you are will be right (cos I have checked it about 5 times)

 

Punch in the OS ref into streetmap.. 495078,156618

This is about where it is...approx

 

This is the smae problem I had before, I think they are using some weird DATUM for Streetmap.

[Guest Schwuk]

The problem is that Geocahing.com displays the co-ords in Hours and decimal Minutes, but Streetmap wants them in Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

 

I've put together a simple web-based calculator that converts between all three formats:

 

Hours:Minutes:Seconds

Hours and decimal Minutes

Decimal Degrees

 

I'll get it uploaded this afternoon, in the mean time, try these:

 

N51:18:03 W00:38:14

 

 

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How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

[Guest Scottworld]

Much better..

That is closer...

 

Can you try that again, with my original coordianates. from my Cache page..

and then I can see what is going on.

[Guest Scottworld]

Look what I just found....

 

Useful !...

 

http://www.jeeep.com/details/coord/

[Guest Moss Trooper]

Well just to stick me nose in. I use streetmap to check my co-ords for my caches before I post them.

 

Saves me making a total hash of things.

 

Moss

 

By the way the the scale for the streetmap OS is 50,000.. landranger.. 25,000 is pathfinder or leasure maps and shows up fencelines etc..

[Guest Moss Trooper]

Well just to stick me nose in. I use streetmap to check my co-ords for my caches before I post them.

 

Saves me making a total hash of things.

 

Moss

 

By the way the the scale for the streetmap OS is 50,000.. landranger.. 25,000 is pathfinder or leasure maps and shows up fencelines etc..

[Guest Schwuk]

Ok - I've uploaded the converter:

 

http://www.schwuk.com/geocaching/convert.php

 

let me know what you think.

 

I found this:

 

http://www.gypsymoth.ento.vt.edu/sts97/htmls/dms.html

 

that explains how to do the conversion.

 

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Schwuk

geocaching@schwuk.com

http://www.schwuk.com/geocaching

[Guest jstead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Scottworld:

www.streetmap.co.uk

 

Has probably the best maps, as I think they are using the actual OS maps. Which show footpaths bridleways etc etc....

 

But I have found the Long / Lat is a bit weird I may have something to do with the Datum Format they require. But I punched in the coords for my cache and it was out by about 500 metres. Maybe someone can shed some light on it.

---

 

Looking back at yesterday's exchanges re Streetmap coordinates - are we sure the problem is with their datum. I have found that putting in coordinates puts an arrow on the right spot, but when I print it moves to the centre of the grid!

[Guest Scottworld]

Hmmm the problem I was having was the arrow was in the wrong place, I think this was fixed due to the fact that streetmap wants Lon / Lat in a diffrent format, (see the earlier postings)

 

Anyway... I think we need to get some more caches down south here... we are a little bit sparse at the moment and I have picked up the ones within 50 miles of me.

[Guest Scottworld]

Tried your conversion utility on my cache coords. Now looks spot on in Streetmap.

 

I will remember to post these if I hide a new cache, for streetmap users.

[Guest Schwuk]

I'm updating the the converter to handle OS Grid Refs as well - I'll let you all know when it's done. I'm also trying to talk to streetmap about how they generate their grid references so I can link to them from the converter page (and maybe talk to Jeremy about adding a streetmap link to UK caches).

 

We do need a lot more caches in the UK generally, but these things take time...

 

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Schwuk

geocaching@schwuk.com

http://www.schwuk.com/geocaching

[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

Scottworld, thanks for all the UK mapping stuff. I looked up a few English namesakes of local towns here on Cape Cod. I live in Yarmouth (village of Yarmouth Port), next to the town of Barnstable. Also have a Falmouth,Chatham, Harwich and Truro on Cape. The Pilgrims didn't really land on Plymouth rock, they landed on Cape first, and signed the 'Mayflower Compakt', basically saying; "we got ******* lost, so we're not in Virginia, screw England, we're on our own now" in a place they called Provincetown. Early revolutionaries, or 17th century soccer (football to you) hooligans...

I'm repairing some sites now, will get them up and running so you guys can see the area. I have taken a look at a few caches in the UK, I liked the one with a pub across the street from a church. GREAT IDEA ! Attone for last week's sins with a hangover, then start on the next week's right after services are over . If you are so inclined, punch in '02675' in the Find a Cache area for zip code to see maps of my area.

Thanks again, CCC

[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

Scottworld, thanks for all the UK mapping stuff. I looked up a few English namesakes of local towns here on Cape Cod. I live in Yarmouth (village of Yarmouth Port), next to the town of Barnstable. Also have a Falmouth,Chatham, Harwich and Truro on Cape. The Pilgrims didn't really land on Plymouth rock, they landed on Cape first, and signed the 'Mayflower Compakt', basically saying; "we got ******* lost, so we're not in Virginia, screw England, we're on our own now" in a place they called Provincetown. Early revolutionaries, or 17th century soccer (football to you) hooligans...

I'm repairing some sites now, will get them up and running so you guys can see the area. I have taken a look at a few caches in the UK, I liked the one with a pub across the street from a church. GREAT IDEA ! Attone for last week's sins with a hangover, then start on the next week's right after services are over . If you are so inclined, punch in '02675' in the Find a Cache area for zip code to see maps of my area.

Thanks again, CCC