Waypoint - GPS Question

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A

AnthonyB

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Jun 29, 2010
10
C&C 40 Toronto
Could use some assistance with my GPS and waypoint setup.

Say that I have to input the following waypoint - N 43, 16.26 / W 79, 45.62 onto my GPS (Garmin 72)

Because my GPS allows for 3 numbers in the seconds I am wondering what should be input.

Eg, Should 26 seconds be input as 260, 026 or what?

Thanks
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Neither. The lat-lon you gave is degrees and minutes and decimals of a minute. .26 minutes is 15.6 seconds.
 
Buck420

Buck420

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Apr 22, 2001
497
Hunter 420 Norfolk, VA
AnthonyB said:
Could use some assistance with my GPS and waypoint setup.

Say that I have to input the following waypoint - N 43, 16.26 / W 79, 45.62 onto my GPS (Garmin 72)

Because my GPS allows for 3 numbers in the seconds I am wondering what should be input.

Eg, Should 26 seconds be input as 260, 026 or what?

Thanks
Click to expand
The reason for allowing a 3 number input in "seconds" is that GPS data is converted to decimal equivalents ... N43, 16. 26 seconds = N43, 16.433 ...
IF the .26 is seconds as you maintain.

http://www.csgnetwork.com/gpscoordconv.html
 
Brian D

Brian D

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Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
Go to the Setup | Navigation Setup and look at the different ways the lat and long can be viewed/entered. There are usually:

hddd.ddddd°
hddd° mm.mmm'
hddd° mm' ss.s"

In your case you have 45.62 for mm.mmm and 45.260 is acceptable. That 45.26x where x=0~9. But for the most part, you do not have to put anything for the third digit as it is assumed a 0 if no number is entered.
 
D

dugout

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Nov 15, 2008
40
Pearson P33 Maryland's Famous Eastern Shore
Okay, those are not seconds, those are minutes to 3 decimal places and coordinates are often stated as such. .26 would be .260 for example.
To further complicate this, coordinates are stated in different ways:
Deg/min/sec
Deg/min to 2 or 3 decimals

This is fractional minutes, Min in Decimals
N 43/16.26 is 43 degrees N, 16.26 minutes, not 16 min, 26 seconds.

This would be close enough in DEG/MIN/SEC;
N43/16/16 in DEG/MIN/SEC
W079/45/37 in DEG/MIN/SEC
.26 x 60 = 15.6
.62 x 60 = 37.2

I hope this helps!:)
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
10,219
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
And to further confuse things, you can set most GPS units to work with either degrees minutes and seconds OR degrees and minutes which can be to three decimal places.. so 16.26 could be 16 minutes, 26 seconds or 16 minutes, 15.6 seconds (0.26 X 60 = 15.8) There is a good bit of difference between those two locations !
 
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Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Deadline said:
How did the settlers ever make it here in 1607?
Click to expand
They already knew the way. The entrance to the Chesapeake bay is 37 D north. So you sail southwest from England until Polaris is 53 degrees above the horizon and then sail west. In about a month you hear the lookout shout "land Ho".
 
Brian D

Brian D

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Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
Well, when Ross was sailing with them in a previous life, they'd have fights over how to read the micrometer dial on the sextant.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Brian D said:
Well, when Ross was sailing with them in a previous life, they'd have fights over how to read the micrometer dial on the sextant.
Click to expand
We didn't have sextants in those days. we used a backstaff or a cross staff or astrolabe.
 
Scott B

Scott B

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Sep 20, 2006
2,953
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
Brian D said:
Go to the Setup | Navigation Setup and look at the different ways the lat and long can be viewed/entered. There are usually:

hddd.ddddd°
hddd° mm.mmm'
hddd° mm' ss.s"

In your case you have 45.62 for mm.mmm and 45.260 is acceptable. That 45.26x where x=0~9. But for the most part, you do not have to put anything for the third digit as it is assumed a 0 if no number is entered.
Click to expand

But he was asking how to input 26 sec.

That would be 45' 26" or 45.433'

45.260 is not 45 min. 26 sec.

His 45.62 is 45 min. 37.2 sec.

or am I missing something here.:confused:
 
Brian D

Brian D

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Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
He was asking about how to input 45.26 minutes and if it had to be 45.260. I was just giving him an option of the different ways to use lat and longs. Some times it is easier to use decimal degrees instead of degrees decimal minutes or degrees minutes seconds. But it depends on what format his chart is giving him. So, use that. At least that is how I interpreted the question.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
The clue here is the question needed to be interpreted.
It wasn't clear.
Given that minute of latitude is one nautical mile and a second is about 100 feet, decimals of seconds are from one side of the boat to the other.
 
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