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Coordinates


dwayne23

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Dwayne,

 

The map coordinates are guesses (sometimes very bad guesses). Most map coords show my house about a block east of its actual location, on the wrong side of the street (actually, between two streets). You GPSr will likely be within 20 feet or so. If you take several readings and average them, you may reduce even that error. For marking coordinates, of your house, your car when you are heading off into the woods, or a cache you place for others to find, always use your GPSr.

 

Welcome to the recreational activity/sport/hobby/addiction!

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Not a bad question, but a lot of uncourteous replies to a simple question.

 

When you go to a mapping program they can use different formats and datums so the numbers (coordinates) you see appear different. They are in fact the same place on this world. If you change you datums then things are different , but that is an extension of this subject.

 

Corey's Stash and Bug Hotel (GC29F5) has several formats, but they are the same place.

  • 1. Degrees° Minutes.Minutes' N40° 24.211' W105° 04.621'
  • 2. Degrees° Minutes' Seconds" N40° 24' 13" W105° 04' 37"
  • 3. Degrees.Degrees° (Decimal Degrees) N40.40352° W105.07702°
  • 4. And UTM's 13T 0493465mE 4472548mN

And here is some more information on Coordinates You can change to any format you desire on the settings on your GPS.

Any more questions just drop an E Mail and I may have some more resources.

 

Cache on in '05

Edited by Tahosa and Sons
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As was said above if you have the GPS in hand and are there, such as when you are at home or are placing a cache, the best thing to do is use your GPS and average the readings. There are a few threads in the forums on how to do this as it will depend on the capacity of your GPS.

 

If you are wanted to know how to get coordinates off a paper map that will depend on what map you have. Generally thought latitude and longitude will be indicated along the boarder of the map you will need to extend horizontal and vertical lines across the map (a long straight edge works nice or a roller rule) to intercept the point that you want to coordinates of. Unless you have a very large scale map it the best you will probably be able to get from the map will be 1/10 of a minute unlike you GPS which most likely has 1/1000 of a minute.

 

As for electronic maps on your computer they usually have a mechanism to download those waypoint that you set directly to your GPS. And those that don’t usually have a way were you can directly read the coordinated. One word of warning about electronic maps, all that I have used allow you to zoom in tighter than their data allows. When this happens the represent things on the screen based on estimates and how the handle coordinates varies. Some attempt to estimate and some use the closest "known." It should be close enough that when you get there you should be able to find what you marked.

 

It is best if you are placing a cache to get the coordinates when you place the cache using your GPS.

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...all that, but the bottom line is that most folks would agree that taking several reading of the spot you want to mark over some period of time or using the averaging feature available on some GPSr units will yield the most consistently repeatable coordinates presuming you have a decent satellite constellation. Putting on bullet proof vest now...

 

The Commissar!

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What exactly are you trying to do?

 

If you're looking for the best possible coordinates for your home, indeed you might be best to head outside and have your GPS do the readings. Mapping software is OK, but I've found that it can be off by 200-250 feet sometimes depending on the method of Geocoding.

 

The terra server clickable images (that are akin to Lostoutdoors.com) are better than the coordinates that are derived by trying to figure out the position based on the "house number/street" combination. You'll get pretty darn close with that. However, that only works in the U.S.

 

Finally, remember that these coordinates can be off by 30-40 feet sometimes anyway. Depending on the size of your lot, that may be in the neighbor's yard.

 

For where you're going to place a cache: When you place the cache, have the GPS in as clear of a view of the sky as possible. Then (depending on the unit) click "Mark a waypoint" - every unit has that feature, but it might be called something different. Whatever the coordinates are for that waypoint that you just created are the coordinates of the cache.

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