Sending in a distress call on channel 16 is something that I have fortunately not had to do and hope I don't ever have to do... Should that day ever come or if I witness someone in trouble on the water and need to radio in the position, what GPS coordinate system is Canada coast guard accustomed to receiving? There are a few different means to provide your location coordinates and was wondering which one I should get accustomed to being able to pull up and provide in case of an emergency...
GPS coordinates
- Thread starter samba123
- Start date
Bryan Allen
Well-Known Member
If you dont have your Radio Operators card, do so. Its part of the course. The Power Squadron holds classes in numerous areas on the coast annually.
jim morrow
Active Member
following...latitude and longitude...
Tugcapitan
Well-Known Member
Good question. You can use degrees, minutes and decimal of the minutes (most common), or you can use degrees minutes seconds.
if you say 49 degrees 17.775 minutes North, or 49 degrees 17 minutes 47 seconds North, although both of the above are the same latitude they sound different and a coast guard station will know how to convert one to the other. So will most people who take a chart or proper boating course. I’ve never heard anyone practically use what they call degree decimal (the third option), only degree decimal minute, or degree minute second.
Your GPS settings will allow you to choose which method you wish to display.
beemer
Well-Known Member
I would use the decimal as opposed to seconds, as well as including a geographic location. Your rescuer will most likely be another boater in a Mayday situation , so "dumbing down" your location will get a quicker response.
Last edited:
When we were doing a lot of long distance motorcycle rallying many new riders learned the hard way that there were choices in their GPS menus regarding how they wanted Long/Lat to appear. It was sadly hilarious when people could not input rally co-ordinates into their GPS's.
Early GPS's were also an introduction for many of us into how Garmin's defined customer service.
I had the pleasure of rallying with some US military folks who had a scary knowledge of early GPS's and they were a comforting source of calm when many of us were running 2 identical GPS units both with the same version of the software. I can remember on more than one ocassion when I would experience dueling routing to a bonus when one GPS would indicate a left turn and the other would indicate to continue on the road as planned. Eventually one of the two GPS's would decide it liked the other's route route and merge back in with the other.
Garmin tech support would explain that what was happening was not possible. One of the ex military types had been a Senior Master Chief who was involved in a lot of secret squirrel stuff on the F4 Phanton and Tomcat explained that Garmin back then was constantly updating waypoints and if you updated your maps on unit one (which was a slow process) and then updated the maps on unit two the next day there would be minute variations in the maps of North America that would by chance create these slight differences.
Think of a route from SanDiego to Maine where a new expressway is opened in Kansas garmin loads it in to their software between your two uploads. On a Macro level the route says it will take 31 hours on both GPS units, when you are 5 miles from the interchange the Garmins will start yelling at each other. Initially annoying , once you know what is happening you just turn the sound off on one unit and use your brain to figure out what is correct. I always relied on the older version of the software until I could visually determine what was happening.
The three common formats:
32° 18' 23.1" N 122° 36' 52.5" W
This is the most common format used to mark maps. It's also the most cumbersome to work with. It's a lot like telling time…
There are sixty seconds in a minute (60" = 1') and
There are sixty minutes in a degree (60' = 1°).
Keeping in mind a few easy conversions between seconds and decimal minutes will help when working with maps that use degrees, minutes and seconds.
15 seconds is one quarter of a minute or 0.25 minutes
30 seconds is one half of a minute or 0.5 minutes
45 seconds is three quarters of a minute or 0.75 minutes
Degrees and Decimal Minutes
DDD° MM.MMM'
32° 18.385' N 122° 36.875' W
This is the format most commonly used when working with electronic navigation equipment.
Decimal Degrees
DDD.DDDDD°
32.30642° N 122.61458° W
or +32.30642, -122.61458
This is the format you'll find most computer based mapping systems displaying. The coordinates are stored internally in a floating point data type, and no additional work is required to print them as a floating point number.
Often the N-S and E-W designators are omitted. Positive values of latitude are north of the equator, negative values to the south. Watch the sign on the longitude, most programs use negative values for west longitude, but a few are opposite. This saves a lazy western hemisphere programmer from having to type in a minus sign before most of their longitude values.
Which format should you use?
First off, if you are working with other people who have agreed upon a format to use, then you should probably use that format.
Next, you will want to look at the maps, lists of coordinates, and any software you may be using. If you can find a consistent format among them, your work will be easier.
You can set your GPS to display any one of these three formats. Locations can be entered into the GPS with the selected format, and then by switching the display format setting, viewed in a different format.
I frequently choose to use the Degrees and Decimal Minutes format, even though the USGS maps I'm using are marked in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds. The markings on the map are all at either 0, 15, 30, or 45 seconds. By remembering the "quarter minute conversions" of 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75, I can quickly do the conversions in my head.
www.maptools.com
Early GPS's were also an introduction for many of us into how Garmin's defined customer service.
I had the pleasure of rallying with some US military folks who had a scary knowledge of early GPS's and they were a comforting source of calm when many of us were running 2 identical GPS units both with the same version of the software. I can remember on more than one ocassion when I would experience dueling routing to a bonus when one GPS would indicate a left turn and the other would indicate to continue on the road as planned. Eventually one of the two GPS's would decide it liked the other's route route and merge back in with the other.
Garmin tech support would explain that what was happening was not possible. One of the ex military types had been a Senior Master Chief who was involved in a lot of secret squirrel stuff on the F4 Phanton and Tomcat explained that Garmin back then was constantly updating waypoints and if you updated your maps on unit one (which was a slow process) and then updated the maps on unit two the next day there would be minute variations in the maps of North America that would by chance create these slight differences.
Think of a route from SanDiego to Maine where a new expressway is opened in Kansas garmin loads it in to their software between your two uploads. On a Macro level the route says it will take 31 hours on both GPS units, when you are 5 miles from the interchange the Garmins will start yelling at each other. Initially annoying , once you know what is happening you just turn the sound off on one unit and use your brain to figure out what is correct. I always relied on the older version of the software until I could visually determine what was happening.
Symbols for degrees, minutes and seconds:
| ° | Degrees |
| ' | Minutes |
| " | Seconds |
| DDD° MM' SS.S" | Degrees, Minutes and Seconds |
| DDD° MM.MMM' | Degrees and Decimal Minutes |
| DDD.DDDDD° | Decimal Degrees |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds
DDD° MM' SS.S"32° 18' 23.1" N 122° 36' 52.5" W
This is the most common format used to mark maps. It's also the most cumbersome to work with. It's a lot like telling time…
There are sixty seconds in a minute (60" = 1') and
There are sixty minutes in a degree (60' = 1°).
Keeping in mind a few easy conversions between seconds and decimal minutes will help when working with maps that use degrees, minutes and seconds.
15 seconds is one quarter of a minute or 0.25 minutes
30 seconds is one half of a minute or 0.5 minutes
45 seconds is three quarters of a minute or 0.75 minutes
Degrees and Decimal Minutes
DDD° MM.MMM'
32° 18.385' N 122° 36.875' W
This is the format most commonly used when working with electronic navigation equipment.
Decimal Degrees
DDD.DDDDD°
32.30642° N 122.61458° W
or +32.30642, -122.61458
This is the format you'll find most computer based mapping systems displaying. The coordinates are stored internally in a floating point data type, and no additional work is required to print them as a floating point number.
Often the N-S and E-W designators are omitted. Positive values of latitude are north of the equator, negative values to the south. Watch the sign on the longitude, most programs use negative values for west longitude, but a few are opposite. This saves a lazy western hemisphere programmer from having to type in a minus sign before most of their longitude values.
Which format should you use?
First off, if you are working with other people who have agreed upon a format to use, then you should probably use that format.
Next, you will want to look at the maps, lists of coordinates, and any software you may be using. If you can find a consistent format among them, your work will be easier.
You can set your GPS to display any one of these three formats. Locations can be entered into the GPS with the selected format, and then by switching the display format setting, viewed in a different format.
I frequently choose to use the Degrees and Decimal Minutes format, even though the USGS maps I'm using are marked in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds. The markings on the map are all at either 0, 15, 30, or 45 seconds. By remembering the "quarter minute conversions" of 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75, I can quickly do the conversions in my head.
Lat/Lon Formats and Symbols
MapTools - Tools and instructions for GPS users to work with UTM, MGRS and lat/lon coordinate systems.
www.maptools.com
Tugcapitan
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure you mean you would use degree decimal minutes instead of degrees minutes and seconds? If so I agree
I’ve never heard anyone out in the PNW use decimal degrees. Not that it wouldn’t work, it’s just not common practice here.
Northdogboy
Active Member
And here I am retired military and just know the map grid system
Sea lyin’
Well-Known Member
No kidding. Taught that way all the way from Boy Scouts, army cadets, and service in the BC Dragoon’s.
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