Sat Nav, differing co-ordinates

[Corky 8]

Hi , does anyone know a way of converting CORRECTLY coordinates given as eight digit ,s , to  Six Digit but ending up in the right place  eg  Souillac N.44.53.29`30  E.1.28.35`56. (sorry my laptop does not have degree sign)  my 4 year old sat nav will only take a Six number co-ord. I've tried leaving off the second set of numbers on the Minutes but then the position given is not the right place. most information giving Coordinates are now giving them either as an eight digit read out or a Seven digit as does All the Aire,s in France.  with all the Aire,s I knock off the last digit on the North reading and the First digit on the West or East reading and get somewhere near to where I want to be,  I know the first answer will be get a new satnav, but that's not what I'm looking for,  can anyone assist.   Many Thanks, Dennis

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

Ah the power of Google...............

 

http://www.gpscoordinates.eu/convert-gps-coordinates.php

 

And there's an Android app, apparently ;-)

[Derek Uzzell]

This Wikipedia entry deals with GPS coordinates and conversion between one notation type and another

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion

 

As 1foot advises, there are on-line GPS coordinate converters that you could use (GOOGLE on "gps coordinate conversion"). However, if you've obtained coordinates that are 'wrong' for your sat-nav, I'm very doubtful that you could easily translate them by hand into coordinates that your sat-nav could handle.

 

(Are you sure your sat-nav hasn't got an option to select the format of the gps coordinates you input? My fairly basic Garmin sat-nav must be much the same age as yours and has 3 different format options for entering GPS coordinates. As it's commonplace for GPS coordinates to be provided in different formats, I'd expect a sat-nav to have the capability to handle more than one.)

 

[Corky 8]

Thank you both very much, will check them both out,  obliged,    Dennis

[Derek Uzzell]

I'm not exactly sure what your sat-nav needs regarding coordinates.

 

The campingcar-infos website provides the following GPS data for the aire de services at Souillac

 

Latitude : (Nord) 44.8915° Décimaux ou 44° 53' 29''

Longitude : (Est) 1.47654° Décimaux ou 1° 28' 35''

 

Using the on-line converter 1foot mentions, and entering the 44.8915 and 1.47654 degree-decimal figures, produces degrees/minutes/seconds figures of N 44 53 29.4 and E 1 28 35.5, which is near enough to the figures you quoted in your original posting. Entering your N 44 53 29.30 and E 1 28 35.56 figures produces degree-decimal equivalents of 44.89147 and 1.47654 - so the conversion works OK.

 

My Garmin sat-nav has 3 coordinates format options - degrees (ddd.ddddd°), degrees/minutes (ddd° mm.mmm') or degrees/minutes/seconds (ddd° mm' ss.s") The Caravan Club's Sites Guide (France) uses the first format, whereas the Guide Officiel Aires de Services book uses the 3rd format.

 

The Wikipedia link I provided shows how a coordinate in one of the 3 formats my Garmin sat-nav can handle can be converted into the other two formats. It's actually not that difficult (with a pocket calculator) but it's a lot easier to pick the appropriate format from the sat-nav's menu and let the device do the maths.

[hallii]

My TomTom doesn't care what format they are in, it just accepts them and gets me there!

 

H

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

Mmmmm, to be honest my £30 one off Ebay does as well, but I was reluctant to mention that to the OP. :-S

[Derek Uzzell]

Looking back at older threads on motorhome forums, it's apparent that earlier sat-navs had no facility to input GPS coordinates. However, if a sat-nav has a GPS coordinate entry option, I would have thought it ought to be 'multi format' capable. As Corky's 4-year-old sat-nav can accept GPS coordinates, it's a mite odd if it can only accept one format.

 

It might well be helpful if Corky says which make/model of sat-nav he has.

[Brian Kirby]

Corky 8 - 2013-11-08 8:44 AM

 

Hi , does anyone know a way of converting CORRECTLY coordinates given as eight digit ,s , to  Six Digit but ending up in the right place  eg  Souillac N.44.53.29`30  E.1.28.35`56. (sorry my laptop does not have degree sign)  my 4 year old sat nav will only take a Six number co-ord. I've tried leaving off the second set of numbers on the Minutes but then the position given is not the right place. most information giving Coordinates are now giving them either as an eight digit read out or a Seven digit as does All the Aire,s in France.  with all the Aire,s I knock off the last digit on the North reading and the First digit on the West or East reading and get somewhere near to where I want to be,  I know the first answer will be get a new satnav, but that's not what I'm looking for,  can anyone assist.   Many Thanks, Dennis

Dennis, I agree with Derek. If you merely omit the last two digits in both cases you should get to roughly the same place (see below). If you are getting the wrong place, how far out are you? Can you say where it does get you? For some reason the French seem to prefer co-ords in degrees, minutes, seconds and decimal seconds. I find degrees and decimal degrees much easier to handle. However, if you have to enter a POI in the former format, you can always get your sat nav to do the conversion by switching to the latter after entering, calling up the waypoint, and then asking "where am I?"

 

I can confirm that the above co-ordinates entered into MapSource, and then viewed in Google Earth/Google Streets, are correct for a designated motorhome aire in Souillac. I can also confirm that entering N44 53' 29" E1 28' 35" gets you to within 15 metres of the same spot, which is still well within the aire.

[Corky 8]

Thank you Derek and Brian, this only came to light this September when touring with friends, taking it day about to be lead M/H, our friends Tomtom took us directly to the Aire/campsite entrance where as mine took us to the next street or stated we were at our destination say 500 yards away,  my sat nav is part of a dvd/cd/radio setup (Kenwood)running on a disc type format , I have calibrated it also tried the change of tyre set up still no difference, I have looked and there is no facility to alter the Gps format ie degree to digital, no matter how many numbers I type in it still divides it into 6 digits , checking the manufacturing date of the satnav it states 2004 so older than what I thought and the Map dated as 2008. my standby satnav is a Sony which has no co-ord,s input at all, Ive  since bought one of these off EBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Truck-Sat-Nav-2-in-1-Navigation-Bluetooth-Mp3-Movie-Player-Lorry-HGV-Car-/260903648566?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_GPSSystems_GPSSystems&hash=item3cbf11bd36

Brain I did on several occasions drop the last digits and get within sight of the Aire road sign, I,m hoping the new satnav will do the job,   and to think I used to do all this with just a map and never have too much hassle, its this getting old that's to blame,  Thanks very Much safe Journey,s   Dennis

[John Day]

For your Tom tom go to Settings > Units > Next > until you come to 'Coordinate display' and check the format you want.

John (lol)

[Brian Kirby]

I think I'd sack the Kenwood job as the maps will now be well out of date, and updates are almost expensive as a new sat-nav, and just get either a Garmin or a TomTom unit. Ease of entering POIs is the great advantage of both, and both have many useful POIs pre loaded. Best is to get one that comes with lifetime map updates, then at least the maps can be kept reasonably current. Unfortunately, they are all expendible technology, as after two or three years they become obsolescent as the technology continues developing, which is where I think your Kenwood unit is. I'd also get just a sat nav, as simple as possible, with few frills. What one needs is a good navigation device, not an entertainment centre which IMO only adds complexity and fallibility. Just make sure it has an SD slot because, sure as eggs is eggs, you'll need it in time for the ever expanding, updated, map files.