+zoisrus Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Question about using this software. I downloaded the program to my desktop, picked a local area cache and then downloaded it directly from the cache page to my EasyGPS program. How come the actual cache coordinates (minutes and seconds) are significantly different from the coordinates that show up for that same cache in the EasyGPS program???? For example the minutes.seconds was ;osted as XX 15.063 in EasyGPS, but the actual coordinate on the cache page was XX 09.038. This is not merely rounding up or down-being off by 6+ minutes. A lot of people use this software to download coordinates quickly for a large number of Geocaches-perhaps I am missing something-and yet I followed the simple directions. HELP. zoisrus Quote Link to comment
Couch_Potato Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Boy, does this answer get repetitive. The problem is in the displayed format of the coordinates. On geocaching.com the coordinates are displayed as degrees, minutes, decimal minutes. In EasyGPS the coordinate format is degrees, decimal degrees. quote:For example the minutes.seconds was ;osted as XX 15.063 in EasyGPS, but the actual coordinate on the cache page was XX 09.038. So on geocacing.com that's XX degrees and 9.038 minutes. In EasyGPS its XX.15063 degrees. To verify it's the same point multiply 0.15063 by 60 to get the minutes. I'm not lost! I just don't know where I am. Quote Link to comment
+Olar Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 In EasyGPS, go to "preferences" and change the coordinate format to the same as those shown in the geocaching cache pages. (degrees, minutes, decimal minutes). Make sure your GPSR is in that format as well then all three are consistent. Cheers, Olar Quote Link to comment
+zoisrus Posted October 4, 2002 Author Share Posted October 4, 2002 THANKS Olar-your replay was the one step missing in the directions! Glad I asked even if it is a repetative problem. Obviously other folks have encountered this snafu besides myself. If the EasyGPS For Groundspeak-Help page (directions for use) mentioned the simple step of changing the format to match the format of the coordinates provided by geocaching.com cache pages people wouldn't be asking the same question. It would only take one more line in the directions and save a lot of headaches. What makes even more sense would be to simply change the default format to match the geocache coordinates-since they provide the link to download directly to EasyGPS. Makes no logical sense to have the default set in one format in EasyGPS and have the default as something different in Geocaching.com Especially since Geocaching.com directly links you to EasyGPS. Just my opinion-not all of us are computer gurus and don't automatically know this stuff! Again thanks for the missing step. zoisrus Quote Link to comment
Couch_Potato Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 quote:Originally posted by zoisrus:Glad I asked even if it is a repetative problem. Obviously other folks have encountered this snafu besides myself. If the EasyGPS For Groundspeak-Help page (directions for use) mentioned the simple step of changing the format to match the format of the coordinates provided by geocaching.com cache pages people wouldn't be asking the same question. It would only take one more line in the directions and save a lot of headaches. Sorry if I seemed rude in my resopnse, I didn't mean to. It just seems that there are no lack of people having problems with coordinates due to the various formats to display them. At least in this case there is a clear explination for the diference of the EasyPGS for Groundspeak help Page. Maybe if we ask Jeremy real nicely he will add a line indicating how to change formats in EasyGPS to match geocaching.com. Did it in this thread. quote:What makes even more sense would be to simply change the default format to match the geocache coordinates-since they provide the link to download directly to EasyGPS. Makes no logical sense to have the default set in one format in EasyGPS and have the default as something different in Geocaching.com Especially since Geocaching.com directly links you to EasyGPS. Just my opinion-not all of us are computer gurus and don't automatically know this stuff! Well, the default coordinate format for geocaching.com is the same as the default format of most GPSr's when new. This saves the new users the trouble of changing coordinates when they enter them into their GPSr. EasyGPS is made by Topographix which is not associated/partnered with geocaching.com (AFAIK). They chose the default format for their own reasons. Maybe if enouch people requested the change they would change the default format. The coordinates are the same regardless of the display format. I'm not lost! I just don't know where I am. [This message was edited by Couch_Potato on October 04, 2002 at 07:23 AM.] Quote Link to comment
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