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EdmontonAB
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 04/30/08

Loc: Sooke, BC , Canada

Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude?
#5551467 - 12/03/12 03:27 AM

Now that I have an observatory, I need to find my correct long and lat. I have looked at Google Earth and CalSky, but they give me different values. Can anyone tell me where I could get the most accurate figures? Thanks,

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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 05/08/06

Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: EdmontonAB]
#5551499 - 12/03/12 04:08 AM

Most (not all) GPS's will display your precise Lat/Lon coordinates to the nearest ten meters/yards or so.

Secondly, from Google Earth.

Be advised that just because they differ, it doesn't mean that one of them is wrong. There are a number of different coordinate representation systems that have been developed to solve various cartographical problems over the years and advanced GPS's actually allow you to pick between them.

http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/gps/clynch_pdfs/coorddef.pdf

Just a point to consider if you plan to publish your precise coordinates on the Internet. Do you really want to give the whole world the precise coordinates of all of your precious and expensive gear? I would suggest instead that you round or truncate those coordinates to the nearest ten kilometers/miles, more or less.

And for the most part (except if you have a modern Meade GOTO mount and you want to track satellites) GOTO scopes don't need nearly that kind of precision to function correctly. Usually a 500-kilometer/300-mile radius is more than sufficient for the initial alignment of the average GOTO scope.

I hope this helps.

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rick-SeMI
sage

Reged: 01/08/11

Loc: Michigan - USA

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: EdmontonAB]
#5551539 - 12/03/12 05:45 AM

This isn't bad

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/latitude_and_longitude_finder.htm

Or you can use this. Enter city/state or zip and watch the lat and lon change as you move the cursor over the map

http://mapserver.mytopo.com/homepage/index.cfm?CFID=7419108&CFTOKEN=61523820

Or maybe this one. Pick a spot on the left and watch the coordinates change at the top of the map.

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

I have a hand-held GPS unit (Garmen) that is really acurate...

My wife got me a GPS for the car. It was OK locally but "tried" to take us way out of the way on our visit to my
step-son in Fayetteville, NC. He is stationed at Ft Bragg.
When I got home I but it back in its box and may cannibilize it for it's parts

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Aquarist
sage

Reged: 08/27/12

Loc: Illinois

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: rick-SeMI]
#5551658 - 12/03/12 08:40 AM

I got mine from Google earth and confirmed with a Garmin GPS. Not exactly synchronized, but close enough.

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Mike I. Jones
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 07/02/06

Loc: Fort Worth TX

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: Chris Erickson]
#5551711 - 12/03/12 09:20 AM

Agree - Great point on not telling the world where your toys are to 3 meter accuracy!
Mike

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Doug Culbertson
Post Laureate

Reged: 01/06/05

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: Mike I. Jones]
#5551718 - 12/03/12 09:28 AM

I use an Android app called GPS Status on my HTC phone. GPS coordinates and a compass all in one app.

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Raginar
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/19/10

Loc: Rapid CIty, SD

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: Doug Culbertson]
#5551764 - 12/03/12 10:10 AM

Android/Iphone is probably the most accurate. Google Earth is good enough to 'bomb' on

.

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csa/montana
Den Mama

Reged: 05/14/05

Loc: montana

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: Chris Erickson]
#5551874 - 12/03/12 11:24 AM

Quote:

Just a point to consider if you plan to publish your precise coordinates on the Internet. Do you really want to give the whole world the precise coordinates of all of your precious and expensive gear? I would suggest instead that you round or truncate those coordinates to the nearest ten kilometers/miles, more or less.

Very good point, Chris.

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simpleisbetter
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 04/18/11

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: csa/montana]
#5551885 - 12/03/12 11:35 AM

My current favorite method is the GPS in my cell phone, which usually pretty much agrees with Google Earth. Out of curiosity, I just compared my main site on both Google Earth and CalSky (satellite view) and they're both virtually the same; not exact, but coords within meters of each other.

Google Earth and my cell phone GPS both have the added benefit of showing my altitude, used by my observing software when building sites.

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raf1
sage

Reged: 11/18/05

Loc: central Texas

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: csa/montana]
#5551942 - 12/03/12 12:27 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Just a point to consider if you plan to publish your precise coordinates on the Internet. Do you really want to give the whole world the precise coordinates of all of your precious and expensive gear? I would suggest instead that you round or truncate those coordinates to the nearest ten kilometers/miles, more or less.

Very good point, Chris.

May also want to rethink listing your equipment in case anyone is out there "shopping" for astro goodies. Personally, I don't list my equipment just to keep the laughing and cat calls at a minimum but some of the equipment lists I have seen here are very impressive! CS, Ron

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EdmontonAB
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 04/30/08

Loc: Sooke, BC , Canada

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: raf1]
#5552210 - 12/03/12 03:02 PM

I am not planning on putting up my coordinates. I just want to get accurate ones for transits and occultations. Thanks for the sites.

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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 05/08/06

Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: EdmontonAB]
#5552541 - 12/03/12 06:24 PM Attachment (15 downloads)

Quote:

I am not planning on putting up my coordinates. I just want to get accurate ones for transits and occultations. Thanks for the sites.

Then I hope that the information I provided will help!

Transits and occultations are indeed cool. I have participated in a number of Pluto occultations with scientists from SwRI and the Lowell Observatory and they were fascinating, not to mention riddled with almost white-knuckled suspense!

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Mary B
Vendor - Echo Astronomy and Electronics

Reged: 05/21/10

Loc: Minnesota

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: Chris Erickson]
#5552595 - 12/03/12 06:56 PM

I use a program called Smart Compass on my cell phone.

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raf1
sage

Reged: 11/18/05

Loc: central Texas

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: EdmontonAB]
#5552775 - 12/03/12 08:34 PM

No worries Steve - that was sort of a throw down admonition for the general good. As Chris said, you're going to have great fun timing occultations. Good luck! CS, Ron

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Starhawk
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/16/08

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: raf1]
#5553151 - 12/04/12 12:04 AM

Commander compass lite oh my iPhone works very well for this- even off the grid.

-Rich

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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 05/08/06

Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: Starhawk]
#5553170 - 12/04/12 12:20 AM

I think a lot of people are missing the point of the original question, which was why there are subtle discrepancies between two different coordinate determination tools. The OP is NOT looking for another basic coordinate determination tool like a GPS or GPS-enabled smartphone.

And going back to the original question, and now knowing that it is related to precise calculations for occultation and transit data collection, I would say that the most important step would be making sure that everyone participating in the occultation or transit event is using the same coordinate determination tool with the same cartographic compensation settings. After all it is the deltas between stations that are most important, as opposed to absolute cartographical position.

I hope this helps.

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Calypte
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 03/20/07

Loc: Anza, California

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: Starhawk]
#5553198 - 12/04/12 12:46 AM

As another poster has pointed out, you don't need to be very accurate for go-tos. Anything within, say, 50 miles is easily good enough for that purpose. But if you're like me, you want to know your coordinates to the millimeter, if you can achieve it. It's just my thing. I got my coordinates from several tries with a GPS receiver. Latitude and longitude within a few meters are easy to derive, but accurate elevation is another matter. It may require repeated tries, each time letting the receiver sit undisturbed for many minutes, to let it settle to an almost-steady value. You may have to average the results. Even then, you may be off by several meters. Many years ago I inquired with the International Occultation Timing Association about possibly timing a particular grazing occultation (the Moon occulting Spica), since I happened to live right on the path and could observe it from my backyard. This was before the dithering of satellite signals was discontinued, and you could only get GPS coordinates within a couple of hundred feet. IOTA didn't consider that good enough, and they also wanted elevation accurate enough to allow for the height of the observing equipment off the ground. I was told to get coordinates and elevation from topo maps. This procedure assumed that whatever I would do with a ruler on a map would be within the then-current accuracy of a GPS receiver (1994). My neighborhood of the time had been graded by machines a couple of years earlier, and no extant map had elevation accurate to the requested precision. Even if I were on an undeveloped site, it all assumed that the map(s), likely surveyed decades earlier, were accurate to within a few inches. I was skeptical. I observed the occultation visually, watching Spica wink in and out of the mountains on the Moon's limb, but I never again considered timings.

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Al8236
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/18/10

Loc: 48.9173N 122.1390W

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

new

[Re: Calypte]
#5553355 - 12/04/12 05:08 AM

As far as the coordinates that I list for my observatory, I use the location of the local Sheriff sub-station that is X mi.from me,
See I'm not even going to give a search radius to work from!
But Google earth has been more than adequate for alignment purposes.

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Raginar
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/19/10

Loc: Rapid CIty, SD

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: Al8236]
#5553383 - 12/04/12 06:13 AM

GPS is accurate to within about a house with commercial receivers. If you're looking for better than what your i-phone can provide you, you're going to need survey-grade equipment that give you a 'more accurate' elevation figure.

GPS is very accurate. We regularily steer munitions through windows using it.

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Mary B
Vendor - Echo Astronomy and Electronics

Reged: 05/21/10

Loc: Minnesota

Re: Where to get accurate Longitude and Latitude? new

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[Re: Raginar]
#5556341 - 12/05/12 08:12 PM

Smart Compass must average the elevation because it is rock solid and doesn't change on my Droid 3

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