Need help with Topozone, won't map my coords

[littlefrog]

I am trying to check some coordinates with TopoZone and am using the pagehere to do it.

 

Here are the coords I am checking: N36° 17.983 W079°03.183

 

The directions on the page say "To enter a value as degrees and decimal minutes (as displayed on many GPS units), enter the degrees in the first box, the minutes (with decimal fraction) in the second box, and a 0 in the seconds box. Do that for both latitude and longitude."

 

There are three boxes for lat, 3 for long. I entered 36 in the first one, 17.983 in the second one and 0 in the last. For long, I put -079 in the first, 03.183 in the second and 0 in the last. When I click on "Map it" it says "error on page". I also get an error if I put 079 or just plain 79 in the longitude degree box.

 

Am I entering the info incorrectly or is the website not working properly?

[+BruceS]

On the first page on topozone try entering the following:

 

Latitude 36 degree 17 minutes 58.98 seconds

Longitude -79 degrees 03 minutes 10.98 seconds

 

The seconds are calculated by multiplying the decimal minutes by 60

[littlefrog]

quote:

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Originally posted by BruceS:

On the first page on topozone try entering the following:

 

Latitude 36 degree 17 minutes 58.98 seconds

Longitude -79 degrees 03 minutes 10.98 seconds

 

The seconds are calculated by multiplying the decimal minutes by 60

---

Yes I know, thanks. But I wanted to use the page I linked to, to check my coords EXACTLY as they appear on the cache page.

The link I posted says one can enter the decimal degrees just as they usually appear on the GPSr. I thought I followed the directions precisely, my question is "why won't topozone map it using the decimal degrees?"

[+BruceS]

I was able to enter the numbers in as you listed them and get the desired results. I was able to generate the error also. You will get the error if you do not put zeros in both seconds boxes.

[+Markwell]

I got it to work. You have to remember that the western hemisphere is negative.

 

Use -79 instead of 79 and I got this page.

 

That being said: Topozone uses NAD27 and has a problem. The coordinates can be off as little as a couple of meters or 200 meters.

 

Better to use Lostoutdoors.com. You can enter in the coordinates in either decimal degrees, degrees/decimal minutes or degrees/minutes/decimal seconds. You get an accurate depiction on scalable topo maps and terra server satellite pics. Here's what I got with their mapping system.

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

[littlefrog]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BruceS:

I was able to enter the numbers in as you listed them and get the desired results. I was able to generate the error also. You will get the error if you do not put zeros in both seconds boxes.

---

 

Okay. Here is exactly what I am entering and I am still getting the error message:

 

Latitude: Box 1: 36 Box 2: 17.983 Box 3: 0

 

Longitude: Box 1: -79 Box 2: 13.183 Box 3: 0

 

Result: "error on page"

 

I am using IE version 5.0

[jfitzpat]

Markwell,

 

First, great picture, I was just thinking of Calvin and Hobbes the other day...

 

Second, FWIW, since LostOutdoors only covers the US, I try to be forgiving about entry. For example, I treat all longitudes as negative (entering 117 and -117 is the same thing). You should be able to just copy and past lon/lat from Geocaching.com directly into the mapmaker and hit 'map'. Just be sure to delete the degree symbol. I used to accept it, but some browsers get very confused URL encoding it before it is submitted to the map maker.

 

I'm trying to squeeze in an update this week (before vacation). Amoung other things, you will be able to enter in UTM as well as LL.

 

-jjf