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Lat/Lon format question


BillChlt

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Posted

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

Posted

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.

 

Flat_MiGeo_B88.gif

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

Posted

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.

Posted

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

Posted

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

Posted

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 icon_smile.gif

 

-- there is no spoon --

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