Question About Datums/adding Waypoints Into Pc

[leeinmemphis2]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a magellan sport trak pro color and magellan mapsend topo software. I am trying to enter some waypoints off of a map that is marked with coordinates for some points under water that I want to find for the purposes of fishing. The datum of the map is 1927 North American datum. The software datum is listed as U.S. The format for the datum appears the same. Can someone verify that this is correct? Also does anyone here use hot spot fishing software? I am wondering if I will really gain anything by purchasing it over just entering waypoints off of a topo map that has fishing spots located on it?

 

Thanks.

 

-lee-

[n0wae]

If all you are trying to do is find your way back to the same fishing spot than datum doesn't matter. Mark a WP in a datum and return to the same spot in the same datum. If however you want to go to a map feature that is on the map with the best accuracy (so that your GPS location matches the map features exactly then use the map datum.

[dantonac]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a magellan sport trak pro color and magellan mapsend topo software. I am trying to enter some waypoints off of a map that is marked with coordinates for some points under water that I want to find for the purposes of fishing. The datum of the map is 1927 North American datum. The software datum is listed as U.S. The format for the datum appears the same. Can someone verify that this is correct? Also does anyone here use hot spot fishing software? I am wondering if I will really gain anything by purchasing it over just entering waypoints off of a topo map that has fishing spots located on it?

 

Thanks.

 

-lee-

1927 North American Datum, on your GPS is listed as NAD27 so if the map datum is that then set your GPS to use that when entering the coords and save the spots as waypoints. Once done you can set your GPS back to WGS84 (the normal datum in use for most purposes) as the GPS will get you to the spot just fine.

 

As for Fishing Hot Spots, I do not use it because I fish mostly smaller bodies of water and they don't have much beyond the really popular lakes.

 

Whether or not you will be helped by the software kind of depends on your level of fishing knowledge. A topo map of the lake (the Mapsend topo software doesn't map out lakes) will generally give you what you need to know about likely areas for various fish if you know how to read a topo map and understand the habits of the fish you are going after. Also I tend to believe that a good bait shop near the lake is a better source of information as to what is working where as it is always up to date unlike FHS.

 

Do you have a depth/fish finder? If so I would use that in conjunction with a topo map and explore on your own and when you find a good spot, mark it on your GPS and start building your own hot spots map.

 

But that's just me, your mileage may vary.

[leeinmemphis2]

Ok.....well I changed my datum on the gps to nad27. Then I went to add a waypoint. The coordinates came up 35Degrees02.590N 089Degrees43.214W. I was going to edit the waypoints to what I need to go to this weekend and the maps datum are 34 54 11.7 N 88 10 01.8 .......So how do I enter the coordinates I need to enter when they don't match the format that's displayed on the gps even when the correct datum is setup to match the waypoints on the map?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I'm trying to get this set up tonight so tomorrow I can play with it some out on the water to make sure I can locate the areas I'm looking for. Thanks.

 

-lee-

[+Olar]

Ok.....well I changed my datum on the gps to nad27. Then I went to add a waypoint. The coordinates came up 35Degrees02.590N 089Degrees43.214W. I was going to edit the waypoints to what I need to go to this weekend and the maps datum are 34 54 11.7 N 88 10 01.8 .......So how do I enter the coordinates I need to enter when they don't match the format that's displayed on the gps even when the correct datum is setup to match the waypoints on the map?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I'm trying to get this set up tonight so tomorrow I can play with it some out on the water to make sure I can locate the areas I'm looking for. Thanks.

 

-lee-

Lee the map datum and the coordinate format are two separate settings on your GPSr. You have done the right thing in changing to NAD27 on your unit but you must also change the coords format to that listed on your map which appears to be degrees/minutes/seconds/decimal seconds. If your GPSr does not offer decimal seconds then you should convert the maps coords to a format that it does have. You currently have it set at degrees/minutes/decimal minutes.

In your example 34° 54' 11.7"N, 88° 10' 01.8"W would be 34° 54.195'N 88° 10.03W.

 

Cheers, Olar