BillChlt Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 I'm just starting out and I'm having a lat/lon conversion issue. I'm trying to enter a cache coordinates into mapblast.com so I can get a map and figure out where to start, but mapblast won't map the coordinates because the seconds are greater than 60. My coords are N 35 05.984, W 081 00.903 I thought they were in deg min.sec, format but I'm not understanding something because the value(s) after the decimal(s) are larger than 60 and mapblast just barks at me. So am I doing something wrong ? TIA, Bill, NC Quote
Dinoprophet Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 The format here is Degrees Decimal Minutes, which means instead of seconds, you get thousands-of-a-minute. To convert to seconds, take the decimal portion of the minutes and multiply by 60. N 35° 05' 59.04" W 081° 00' 54.18" To go the other way, divide seconds by 60 and add to the minutes. Well the mountain was so beautiful that this guy built a mall and a pizza shack Yeah he built an ugly city because he wanted the mountain to love him back -- Dar Williams Quote
BillChlt Posted June 12, 2003 Author Posted June 12, 2003 Thanks. Soon after posting this I found a converter on the net and realized it was a simple decimal issue. But after converting these coords to DMS I tried using mapquest to display the location and it couldn't. So whats a good way to find a coordinate on a map ? I'm trying to figure out where to start when looking for a cache when all I have is the cache location. Of coarse..I could always use my gps and drive it, but that might get ugly. Quote
+Stunod Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 Try the MapMaker at www.lostoutdoors.com. You can get aerial photos and topo maps. "Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand." Quote
+Markwell Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 On my FAQ, I talk about converting between all formats. Unfortunately, Mapquest only takes either DD MM SS or DD.DDDDD (decimal degrees). To input into Mapquest, you'll need to convert either to degrees-minutes-seconds or decimal degrees. Fortunately, on that same FAQ, I link to a little piece of freeware from Mentor software that will do all the conversion for formats. Lostoutdoors.com is good for topo maps and satellite images, but not street maps. Mapquest is still probably the best for those. Markwell Chicago Geocaching Quote
+Shawn&Holly Posted June 12, 2003 Posted June 12, 2003 When I use MapQuest for looking up stages on a multi cache with the coords worked out in Deg Min.min, I just switch the GPS to Deg Min Sec and the GPS does the calculation for you. Car37 & Shnde Quote
+BigBirdNL Posted June 13, 2003 Posted June 13, 2003 Use CacheMaps and all your conversion problems are gone. CacheMaps supports 20 online maps now plus offline maps in for example OziExplorer or ExpertGPS. No need anymore to find that site with that nice map. No more conversion of waypoints. Try it! BigBird -- there is no spoon -- Quote
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