+woodsters Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I know...I know...here's another newbie who don't know anything. It's true. What is the proper way to give coordinates to someone? I've seen them listed in different formats. If I were to give my inlaws coordinates to put in their RV's GPS to get to our house, how would I do it? Also what about if I were giving coordinates to a cache? Is there any difference? Perhaps a difference in the GPS's themselves? Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 You give the coordinates in the format that the other person has their GPS set for. If its for a cache, use the format that this website uses and make sure the other person set's their GPS for it. "Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois" Quote Link to comment
+woodsters Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 Thanks, but is there a norm? I know if I were going to enter a cache on this site to use their format, but is that the normal way amongst GPS'ers elsewhere? In other words, should anyone with a GPS be able to enter the coordinates in the manner in which this website uses? I would think so, but I would like to know ahead of time. i.e. do different type of systems accept coordinates only in a certain fashion or should all systems accept them the way that they are put here? Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+tirediron Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Your best bet is to go with the format "H DD MM.MMM" also referred to as "Decimal minute" which, I believe is almost universal among consumer GPSrs. Also, it's the easiest to translate into other formats as well. Quote Link to comment
+woodsters Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 Think I figured it out. There is a difference between older ones and newer ones called "datums". Geocaching.com uses the newer format called "WGS84 datum". GPS units can switch between the WGS84 and NAD27 datums. But the NAD27 is not really used anymore except for some maps. Is this a correct synopsis? Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Woodsters Outdoors:Think I figured it out. There is a difference between older ones and newer ones called "datums". Geocaching.com uses the newer format called "WGS84 datum". GPS units can switch between the WGS84 and NAD27 datums. But the NAD27 is not really used anymore except for some maps. Is this a correct synopsis? Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Not really. NAD27 is used by a lot of government agencies. Maybe people who have a work GPS that they also use for geocaching have to alternate between the two. WGS84 is used by Geocaching and is the default that most GPS's are set at by the factory. Your Topo maps are normaly NAD27 and you have to make sure to convert them to WGS84. Because of all the variaions on datums when you give coordinates and there can be any doubt always include the datum the coordinates are in. ===================== Wherever you go there you are. Quote Link to comment
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