Off The Map Coords

[+kevmikwa]

I'm heading to Barbados for my honeymoon. I'm aware of the six caches on the island, but (as expected) cities, roads and such aren't exactly covered by Metroguide USA v5.

 

I was wondering if anyone knew of a website where I might be able to obtain some coords for major towns in unusual locales like Barbados. Even if I can't mark roadways, it still would be nice to have some cities in the GPS as waypoints.

 

If this has been covered before, please forgive me. I tried concocting a forum search, but all I could come up with for search criteria were terms like "GPS coordinates", "cities" and "island". I'm sure such a search would have returned a jillion hits.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[gpsvisualizer]

Normally, I'd suggest Maporama -- it lets you zoom in and center your map, then read the coordinates off the bottom of the page -- but their Barbados map is pretty low-res. It might help a little though. Same deal with MultiMap: you can see Barbados, but you can't get a lot of detail.

 

You might also try the Landsat image browser at http://onearth.jpl.nasa.gov/ -- unfortunately it seems to be down at the moment.

 

Once you've got some points jotted down, try running them through GPS Visualizer using the Landsat background map (assuming the Landsat site will be back up shortly, I hope) to get an overview and make sure none of your points are knee-deep in the Atlantic.

 

Adam

[+kevmikwa]

Normally, I'd suggest Maporama ...

Thanks Adam for the detailed info. I'm going to try your suggestions right away. You da man!

[+PandyBat]

I'm absolutely no help here, but I wanted to say I just love your avatar, kevmikwa! That's so brilliant and funny! Thanks for the giggle!

[gpsvisualizer]

The Landsat maps seem to be available again, and Barbados doesn't look half-bad on there.

 

Try going to the GPS Visualizer waypoint entry form and entering this text into the box:

 

name,desc,latitude,longitude

Barbados,Somewhere in Bridgetown,13.0923,-59.6118

 

(To find the specific coordinates you need in Barbados via the satellite imagery, try using NASA's Landsat browser -- it displays the coordinates of the center of the map below the image.)

[gpsvisualizer]

By the way, if you use that waypoint form, and some of the points you enter are geocaches, make sure you put the cache code (e.g., GCAB123) in the "name" field (rather than "desc") -- if you do that, GPS Visualizer will automatically link the waypoint marker to the "cache details" page on geocaching.com when you click on it.

[+kevmikwa]

... if you use that waypoint form, and some of the points you enter are geocaches, make sure you put the cache code (e.g., GCAB123) in the "name" field ... GPS Visualizer will automatically link the waypoint marker to the "cache details" page on geocaching.com when you click on it.

No way. Wish I'd known that - that's the coolest! I think your suggestions have led me down the right path. Thanks to some work with Maporama, my data file looks like this ...

 

name,desc,latitude,longitude,alt
ALLMANS,Allmans,13.26667,-59.63306,0
BATHSHEB,Bathsheba,13.20222,-59.52667,0
BENAB,Benab,13.22028,-59.54083,0
BENNYHAL,Benny Hall,13.26667,-59.60000,0
BRIDGETO,Bridgetown,13.09194,-59.61167,0
COLESPAS,Coles Pasture,13.15028,-59.42361,0
COTTAGE,Cottage,13.28306,-59.60000,0
COVE,Cove,13.29833,-59.57694,0
EBWORTH,Ebworth,13.26667,-59.61667,0
FORTESCU,Fortescue,13.16667,-59.45028,0
Geocache,GCA693,13.19543,-59.50907,0
Geocache,GCA952,13.08323,-59.60262,0
Geocache,GCADDE,13.27353,-59.58468,0
Geocache,GCC3D4,13.33452,-59.61315,0
Geocache,GCD4F5,13.18317,-59.63873,0
Geocache,GCHBZP,13.05672,-59.50453,0
GIBBONS,Gibbons,13.05000,-59.51667,0
HALFACRE,Half Acre,13.28306,-59.61667,0
LESSBEHO,Less Beholden,13.21667,-59.54972,0
LUKEHILL,Luke Hill,13.27167,-59.61889,0
MAXWELL,Maxwell,13.06667,-59.55000,0
MTROYER,Mount Royer,13.30000,-59.61667,0
ORANGEHI,Orange Hill,13.25000,-59.60000,0
ROCKLEY,Rockley,13.07278,-59.59861,0
SPEIGHTS,Speightstown,13.24028,-59.64194,0
WHITEHAL,White Hall,13.25000,-59.61667,0
WINDYRID,Windy Ridge,13.16667,-59.46667,0
WORTHING,Worthing/Hastings,13.06806,-59.58167,0

 

The points seem to check out. It doesn't seem I'll be driving my Mini-Moke into the sea anyway. Thank you again for all the help, it has been fairly invaluable.

 

P.S. to PandyBat: Glad you got a laugh out of my avatar. Always looking for a cheap laugh, that's me!

[gpsvisualizer]

Your file looks fine; for simplicity's sake, you could drop the "alt" field altogether, of course.

 

As for the geocaching links, just switch "Geocache" with the cache code in those rows, like so:

 

GCA693,Geocache,13.19543,-59.50907,0

GCA952,Geocache,13.08323,-59.60262,0

GCADDE,Geocache,13.27353,-59.58468,0

etc.

 

And then you should be able to click on those, for what it's worth.