i have a ? on lat/long.

[DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI]

is it true if you have your G.P.S. IN THE NAUTICAL MODE that you will have a different reading than if say you had your unit in the metric or american mode? i have been told that if you convey your cordinates to someone in the ***nautical mode*** and they are in the **regular or metric mode** and don't know that information they would end up in a different spot on the lake than which you are ( a large distance away ). this could become quite troublesome or deadly if say you're on a rescue in the fog.
are there any ***coast guarders*** out there that have a precise answer to this very important question? i was told your moto is *****you have to go out but you don't have to come back***** any truth to that ?

[WALLEYE MIKE]

1 degree of lat. in nautical miles is 69, in statute miles its 60 miles.
1 nautical mile is 1.15 statute mile. Kinda of think of it as metric vs. standard

You can use either nautical xx. xx. xx. or statute xxx.xxx.xxx
82. 40.60 or 082.500.800
In natutical your minutes and seconds will not go higher than 60 where as in statute the seconds will go to 999


Most guys I think use statute.

[DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI]

so, am i right in assuming that if you don't state what your set to you could be in some serious trouble? if you said 44-35-16.7 83-25-15.5 (not saying of course in statue) and someone on the water is in nautical, that they take it for granted you're in nautical as you're on the water you are screwed?
i say that due to the fact that i hear a lot of people talking all the time and they hardly ever verify as to what they are set to if ever.

[kbkrause]

I would guess you could avoid confusing by saying the unit of measure


85 degrees 54.987 minutes
or
85 degrees 54 minutes 59 seconds

[WALLEYE MIKE]

I would guess you could avoid confusing by saying the unit of measure


85 degrees 54.987 minutes
or
85 degrees 54 minutes 59 seconds

Like kevin said, if someone gives you coords. with just 2 digits long its nautical, and if given in a 3 digit number its statute.

Best explaination I can give you.

[DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI]

thanks for the replies! that helps explain what i was told,so it is ***imperative *** that you make sure they are in what they are in and not leave anything out or off the complete reading.

[hitechman]

1 degree of lat. in nautical miles is 69, in statute miles its 60 miles.
1 nautical mile is 1.15 statute mile. Kinda of think of it as metric vs. standard

You can use either nautical xx. xx. xx. or statute xxx.xxx.xxx
82. 40.60 or 082.500.800
In natutical your minutes and seconds will not go higher than 60 where as in statute the seconds will go to 999


Most guys I think use statute.

Any location on the earth can be expressed in terms of latitude and longitude.

If this location is expressed in terms of circular measurement (360 degrees in a great--or perfect--circle) the unit will be degrees and fractions of degrees. One degree can be broken down into 60 smaller units called minutes, and one minute can be further subdivided into 60 smaller units called seconds.

1 degree = 60 minutes = 3600 seconds. Latitude and longitude can be expressed in any one of these units or any combination of any 2 or all three.

44.444 degrees
44 degrees 26.640 minutes
44 degrees 26 minutes 38.400 seconds
All 3 of the above examples represent the same value and need to be found in pairs (latitude = degrees east or west of the prime meridian, longitude = degrees north or south of the equator). It is where these 2 great (perfect) circles intersect, that describes that location.

The earth is somewhat flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator so no true N/S lines or true E/W lines form perfect circles, but rather elipses.

A statute mile is defined as 5,280 feet. A nautical mile is defined as 1 minute (1/60 of a degree) of a great (perfect) circle. This is approximately equal to 1 minute of latitude at the equator, but this varies as one moves north or south of the equator because of the earth not being a "perfect sphere".

Location (lat/lon) on the earths surface has absolutely nothing to do with distance, other than traveling a distance from a location will put your location in a different location.

1 nautical mile of travel (1.15 statute miles) will put you in a different location than if you traveled 1 statute mile in the same direction, but your location can still be expressed in degrees, degrees-minutes, degrees-minutes-seconds or fractions (decimals) thereof.

There are other ways of expressing ones location on the earth that do not use degrees, but thay represent the same location. Most GPSr units give you a choice as to how you want your location expressed. For geocaching most use degrees-minutes (44-26.640), but I always convert mine to degrees-minutes-seconds (44-26-38.400). One can set their GPS to measure distance in statute or nautical distances, but if you and I are standing at the same location, we can see that they would be shown identically if we choose to express them in the same units.

Nautical units are not metric--that would be meters-kilometers--units of distance, but if you had your GPSr set to metric, it would still display the same lat/lon in degrees (or any combination of the three).

I assumed the original posters questions was on latitude and longitude, and not distance.

This thread addresses the same issues: http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172345

Steve