Garmin Etrex Position Format?

[smithsurf]

Hi there. New to the joys of GPS ,excuse my lack of knowledge.

 

Could someone please tell me what setting my position format should be for Geocaching?

I've done a few caches over the past couple of weekends without any major problems. However when i'm entering co ordinates manually they are usually given as:-

N 55° 53.503 W 005° 02.826 instead of British Grid: NS 09557 70700 which i think is the format my etrex is on.

Do i have to change the format to enter the N 55° 53.503 W 005° 02.826 co ordinates??

 

Or am i just way off the mark and dont have a clue??

 

Cheers.

[+Just Roger]

Welcome to the addiction

 

You don't say which Etrex you have.

On my Venture it comes under Main Menu - Setup - Units. Select hdddº mm.mmm' Normally this will also change the datum (next one down from Position Format) to WGS 84 (as opposed to OSGB datum) Getting the wrong datum can, depending on where you are in the British isles, put you up to a mile away from where you want to be / think you are.

 

This same screen also lets you swap Miles/km and Feet/meters.

 

Happy caching

[Red Squadron]

Hi there. New to the joys of GPS ,excuse my lack of knowledge.

 

Could someone please tell me what setting my position format should be for Geocaching?

I've done a few caches over the past couple of weekends without any major problems. However when i'm entering co ordinates manually they are usually given as:-

N 55° 53.503 W 005° 02.826 instead of British Grid: NS 09557 70700 which i think is the format my etrex is on.

Do i have to change the format to enter the N 55° 53.503 W 005° 02.826 co ordinates??

 

Or am i just way off the mark and dont have a clue??

 

Cheers.

 

The quick answer to your question is YES. The input should be Degrees , minutes, seconds.

[+Kryten]

The standard settings for caching are datum WGS84 and display format DD MM.MMM and this is how the GPSr should be st up. The UK national grid location is also shown on UK cache pages but this is a translation and there are always slight differences between the two. It is provided so you can manually plot the cache location on an OS map.

[smithsurf]

Sorry. My etrex is a yellow one?

 

Current settings are

 

Position Format- British Grid

Map datum- Ord srvy GB

 

So these are wrong then? I'll change them to whats listed above then.

 

Thanks for your help

Edited March 5, 2007 by smithsurf

[smithsurf]

Just changed the datum to WGS 84 but for the position format i only have a choice of

 

hddd.ddddd

hddd+mm.mm

hddd+mm'ss.s

 

Could you tell me which one of these i should use??

 

Thanks

 

Sorry,got it hddd+mm.mmm There was an m missing from display because choice was to long. Doh

Edited March 5, 2007 by smithsurf

[+Omally]

Just changed the datum to WGS 84 but for the position format i only have a choice of

 

hddd.ddddd

hddd+mm.mm

hddd+mm'ss.s

 

Could you tell me which one of these i should use??

 

Thanks

 

Sorry,got it hddd+mm.mmm There was an m missing from display because choice was to long. Doh

 

You want hddd+mm.mmm.

[+John Stead]

 

The quick answer to your question is YES. The input should be Degrees , minutes, seconds.

 

Surely as others have said it is Degrees, Minutes and Decimal Minutes, i.e. HDDD MM.MMM. To bring seconds into it is only confusing and has led some astray.

[+V70T5]

The standard settings for caching are datum WGS84 and display format DD MM.MMM and this is how the GPSr should be st up. The UK national grid location is also shown on UK cache pages but this is a translation and there are always slight differences between the two. It is provided so you can manually plot the cache location on an OS map.

 

Interesting.... I did wonder about the difference (physical plot) between the OS national refs and the standard lat-long figures.

 

I mostly use the OS reference to get me to the rough location using Autoroute, as it doesn't accept the DD MM.MMM format. Then input the DD MM.MMM into handheld GPS.

[Red Squadron]

 

The quick answer to your question is YES. The input should be Degrees , minutes, seconds.

 

Surely as others have said it is Degrees, Minutes and Decimal Minutes, i.e. HDDD MM.MMM. To bring seconds into it is only confusing and has led some astray.

 

That was me that said seconds, I do apologise and will learn from my mistake

[+Lost in Space]

 

.....I mostly use the OS reference to get me to the rough location using Autoroute, as it doesn't accept the DD MM.MMM format. ..

 

Er, what "Autoroute" are you using? Microsoft Autoroute certainly accepts decimal degrees.......

[+V70T5]

 

.....I mostly use the OS reference to get me to the rough location using Autoroute, as it doesn't accept the DD MM.MMM format. ..

 

Er, what "Autoroute" are you using? Microsoft Autoroute certainly accepts decimal degrees.......

 

Using Autoroute 2007 now. I tried copy/pasting the format given in cache entries however it says they are invalid. Also tried remving spaces ect but can't get it to accept.

 

Any suggestions appreciated

 

I didn't properly read the dialog box (below) and just assumed they could only be entered as XX.XXXX format?

 

 

Gavin

[+GAZ]

 

.....I mostly use the OS reference to get me to the rough location using Autoroute, as it doesn't accept the DD MM.MMM format. ..

 

Er, what "Autoroute" are you using? Microsoft Autoroute certainly accepts decimal degrees.......

 

Using Autoroute 2007 now. I tried copy/pasting the format given in cache entries however it says they are invalid. Also tried remving spaces ect but can't get it to accept.

 

Any suggestions appreciated

 

I didn't properly read the dialog box (below) and just assumed they could only be entered as XX.XXXX format?

 

 

Gavin

 

You're right Gavin, Autoroute only accepts Degrees Decimal....ie 54.12345deg....so I usually copy and paste the British Grid...cos it's easier...and that gives me a near-enough area.

 

Gaz

[+Gavin4077]

I'm sure theres a topic on this forum somewhere that explains the different formats, I must read it one day

 

Gavin

[Red Squadron]

I'm sure theres a topic on this forum somewhere that explains the different formats, I must read it one day

 

Gavin

 

Whenever I use Autoroute I convert the Geocache lat/long simply by using a calculator.

 

N52' 33.772 I type in 33.772 divided by 60 = 56286 So autoroute Location Sensor sees N52'56286

E000'31.890 I type in 31.890 divided by 60 = 53150 So Autoroute Location Sensor sees E0' 53150

 

It works great If you use the co-ords above it will show you a point about halfway along Norman Drive in Whittington Norfolk

[+Gavin4077]

Ahhh.... I didn't think it would be that easy !

 

I've noticed quite a few cache pages that don't include the OSGB reference, so that formula will come in very handy.

 

Strangely enough, I noticed when I convert GPX to CSV (Autoroute recognised format) they appear perfectly in the program. The conversion process must also use this calculation I guess.

 

Like I say though, it's all new to me. If I can get something to work, thats the main thing, rather than understanding exactly HOW it worked

[+peacefrog77]

I have a coordinate of 37.97548119 -92.76798604 for a trailhead. Whick of the settings on my Garmin extrex 20 do I need to change to make it work with that format? I think it is in position format but I don't know which one of those settings to pick.

 

Thanks for help.

 

Cathy

[+Pharisee]

I have a coordinate of 37.97548119 -92.76798604 for a trailhead. Whick of the settings on my Garmin extrex 20 do I need to change to make it work with that format? I think it is in position format but I don't know which one of those settings to pick.

 

Thanks for help.

 

Cathy

 

I don't believe you can enter your co-ordinates in exactly that format. Positive numbers are North and East, negative numbers are South and West

So you could enter them as N37.97548 W092.76798 using the Position Format hddd.ddddd°

You could also convert your co-ordinates to the more usual Position Format hddd° mm.mmm' by multiplying the decimal part of the number by 60 to convert it to Minutes. For the latitude 0.97548119 x 60 = 58.529 so the latitude would be N37° 58.529' and similarly, the longitude would be W092° 46.079'

Hope that helps a little

[+Bear and Ragged]

Groundspeaks own http://www.geocaching.com/wpt/ will change it for you.