proper articulation of GPS coordinates

Advice
#1

Longitude and latitudes… but what is the proper was to relate GPS coordinates? Hours, minutes, seconds- north and west? Thanks.

#2

web site
Not sure what your looking for, but this might help



http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html



Does conversions both ways.

#3

Back a few years ago, I wrote a tutorial
for a P-net poster, and if you send me a e-mail, I’ll attach it and send it to you.

I tried to write it and explain it for easy learning



Jack L

#4

lat/lon
Typically you say latitude, then N/S, followed by longitude, E/W. Personally, I state Longitude as 3 digits, and latitude as 2 digits as that differentiates them if you only hear a partial transmission.



I find Degrees, minutes, tenths the easiest way, and the one most commonly relayed by radio. Most charts around here only show seconds on one small part of the scale, so tenths of minutes is easier to plot or to measure.



Nate

(Forty-four degrees, 29.9 minutes North; Zero Six Eight degrees, 26.1 minutes West)

#5

It depends
It depends who you are passing the information to. I use grid coordinates most often…it’s nothing but meters north/south and east/west. This makes it quite easy to look at two positions and estimate the distance between as well as the relative direction.

#6

UTM
You’ll be able to plot extremely exact via UTM.

Skip the crazy Lat/Long stuff altogether for real navigation

#7

will you send it to me also?
Jack, I would love to have a copy of your tutorial on transmitting position (lat/long). Thank you! Happy Christmas.

G in NC

#8

utm/lat.lon
i agree that for land nav, utm is easier to use, but most nautical charts use lat/lon.

#9

GPS
your GPS should let you change to any lat /long or UTM set up. So I just match whatever format to whatever or map or chart I’m using.

There is no real right or wrong as long as you match them up…

#10

Send me a e-mail and I’ll attach it
If I try to copy a word document to here, the format gets all screwed up.



jack L

#11

UTM
I find UTM works alot easier and most US topos are ticked in UTM’s

#12

UTM is the way to go.
There is no way the average user can figure out the distance between two points given in Lat/Long. UTM is a distance in meters therefore the difference between two coordinates is a distance in meters vice angular degrees. You should get familiar with switching between the different formats. Lat/Long can be given in different ways hddd.ddddd, hddd.mm.mmm and hddd.mm.ss.s. Your GPS will do the conversions. Just as important make sure you are using the same Datum which probably be either NAD27 or WGS84.

#13

prep your charts
that’s right. just prep your charts before going with UTM coords on the key locations.