IMUX Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Is it acceptable to use UTM ? All my maps and charts are military. UTM is how we called close air support and I am very used to it. I know I can convert UTM to LAT/LONG. Just asking the question. Quote Link to comment
+Brown Dwarf Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 quote:Originally posted by N8GFL/N8JCM:Is it acceptable to use UTM ? All my maps and charts are military. Acceptable? What's that? Whatever works for you is acceptable. And note that the cache pages carry the UTM location, as well as lat/lon. But be careful that the map datum is WGS84, as opposed to NAD27 -- or you'll have major problems. The datum should be noted somewhere in the small print at the bottom. Quote Link to comment
+Desert_Warrior Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Or was it MGRS? They are not quite the same. I used MGRS for 20+ years, still have a ton of mil-maps. Like you, I started using MGRS and converting. But what a pain! Soon enough I convinced myself that if I could learn and understand Metric, I could also learn and understand LAT/LON. Now it is easy. So, to answer your question.... YES. Without a doubt you can do it. However, I would recommend you just suck it up and learn LAT/LON. It isn't that hard.... really. Enjoy... Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC). El Paso, Texas. Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom. They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS! Quote Link to comment
+Poindexter Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 UTM is much easier to use than lat/lon for plotting your position on a paper map that has the grid on it. But that said, it's a matter of personal preference whether anyone else finds it acceptable or not. Just be sure to set your GPS datum to the same as the map datum. Poindexter Quote Link to comment
Tahosa and Sons Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Lat and Long are not the best for plotting points on maps. UTM's when used in conjuction with a program like National Geographics Topos can't be beat. You can set your grids from 100 to 1000 meters, 500 meters which is 1/2 of the standard tick marks on a topo is about the best setting. And you can set your datums to match your gps settings. Here is a link to some utm's http://www.maptools.com/UsingUTM/index.html Tahosa - Dweller of the Mountain Tops. Quote Link to comment
dsandbro Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Use this. Cheap Low Tech. Don't need batteries or a computer. Ticks for various scale maps. The 1:24,000 scale goes down to 20 meters. http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?ID=5916 ======================================== Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk. Quote Link to comment
+jonboy Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 I was a forward observer and in my experience all the aircraft used Lat and Long, there's too much distortion in UTM (MSRG), thats why the airforce had their own forward air controllers, plus we couldn't talk with them on out radios. Of course this was in the Vietnam era, I understand you can talk directly to air assets now, but I work with the Civilian Air Patrol in SAR and they want Lat & Long. Quote Link to comment
+SearchRescueDog Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I use UTM ... Before heading out I convert the WGS84 datum over to NAD27. I then convert the Lat Long over to UTM and that is what I go into the field with. It makes it nice and easy to throw the grid reader over an area and be able to say at first glance "about 60meters ahead". A lot quicker than lat/long IMHO. Quote Link to comment
Team Sidewinder Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Maybe it is just me but I think UTM is much easier and quicker to use in converting your position from gpsr to topo map or topo to gpsr than LAT/LON. Caches have both coordinates listed so why use the more difficult one. But then again that is just my 2 cents worth LOST AND FOUND DEPT. Quote Link to comment
+elifish Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I use both interchangeably now, mostly for the map plotting option. I asked about being able to submit a cache using UTM's but it didn't sound hopeful, so you have to get used to converting if you want to create your own caches anyway. elifish Quote Link to comment
+writer Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 quote:Originally posted by elifish:I asked about being able to submit a cache using UTM's but it didn't sound hopeful, so you have to get used to converting if you want to create your own caches anyway. No need to convert - just set your GPSr to lat/lon and WGS84 and take your cache location readings. You can still get yourself in and out of a place with map and compass. Quote Link to comment
+TeamJiffy Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 ...we use this all the time; haven't had a problem with it so far, unless we forget to use the "-" sign for western longitude. But then we have only ourselves to blame when that happens. Here's the page we use... Jeeep.com coordinate translation page ...it must be annoying to use Lat/Long in the UK and western Europe, because you always have to remember if you are East or West. -J Quote Link to comment
Cracker. Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 If you have a Magellan, you dont haveto convert. Just set your primary coord system to Lat/Lon, and secondary to UTM.... On the Position screen, you can display both at once... Art www.yankeetoys.org www.BudBuilt.com http://www.ttora-ne.mainpage.net/ Quote Link to comment
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