Coordinates whats the deal (1 Viewer)

RS_rob

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Dec 14, 2013
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over a Year Yay................
Everyone seams to post coordinates whats the deal ?

I cant find a way of making them useful so why ? Ive tried & even searched on the net & tried putting them in my sat nav & nothing.

Am I missing something here.......................?

Whats wrong with a good ol fashioned postcode or cross road & Town :mad:
 
Feb 24, 2013
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I'm on the fence with this one Rob, personally I still much prefer road name and use my eyes, but when in a tight spot or difficult access a coordinate does really work

problem I have is some come as minutes and seconds some are decimal, we could have ended up on the wrong side of France earlier this week
 

laneside

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Afraid you must be doing something wrong as they are very much more accurate than postcodes especially at this side of the channel.. Using French postcodes will see you gong around in circles all day long, just in passing which sat.nav. are you using
 
Mar 17, 2013
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Agree that coordinates are brill in Europe and make finding some of the sites so so much easier - take you right to the spot! Easy to put into our TomTom Go.
 
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Robert Clark

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In the UK a postcode can mean a handful of properties, however in Europe it's a whole town

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Sep 26, 2013
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Never had to put any in as with Archies Campsites you have all the sites you will ever need. Same with Aires as you can download them from various websites.

Mike
 
Feb 22, 2008
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Co ordinates take you to the exact spot whereas a postcode can be a few hundred yards away and in a populated area it can be a pain.
In my Garmin there are three options of co ordinate input which is simple, like me :rolleyes:
It's also handy with Google Earth as where you hold the cursor the correct co ordinates are displayed at the bottom of the screen (y)

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callumwa

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I'm on the fence with this one Rob, personally I still much prefer road name and use my eyes, but when in a tight spot or difficult access a coordinate does really work

problem I have is some come as minutes and seconds some are decimal, we could have ended up on the wrong side of France earlier this week

The Sat Navs we use allow you to choose either decimal entries or minutes and seconds entries.
 
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RS_rob

RS_rob

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over a Year Yay................
I was given a handfull of coordinates when we went to cornwall & i spent a good week trying to figure them out
Google earth woudnt take them
google dont recognise them
they were useless in the sat nav
in the end i stck the name in & just zoomed in on google earth & took a chance to find pra sands
 

Gellyneck

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Co-ordinates by far and away the best option. Try using postcodes in the back of beyond!
Copy and paste this into Google Maps and it should bring up a location close to Skegness - 53.123456 0.123456
If your Sat Nav needs the data in degrees \ minutes \ seconds there are many websites that will convert these for you, eg Link Removed
You should also see it in this format when you paste into Google Maps. -
53°07'24.4"N 0°07'24.4"E

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Theonlysue

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Not long enough!
As said, entered correctly, they get you to the exact spot. Some uk directions state do not use postcode.
Also, they dont use postcodes in Morocco lol
 

DanielFord

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A post code in England can refer to a large area, and in more rural areas it can be a long way from where you need to be. A Sat Nav will direct you to the centre of this area, hence why they ask for a house number as well.
I always check on google maps to see where the post code refers to, and if needed, get the co-ordinates and use them instead.
In Europe, I always use the co-ordinates, I have found this is the only way to get an accurate location. On my TomTom co-ordinates are entered by going into the "navigate to" menu, and then select "lat long". We do also use google maps whilst abroad, but some of the locations on Google maps are just plain wrong.
 
Oct 18, 2014
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We utilise decimal, especially for planning where maps allow you to zoom in and see what an area has to offer

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Jaws

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Co-ordinates for me every time
Trying to find an aires without them is impossible ..

TomTom will auto work out what type of co-ordinates you are using ( decimal or minutes / seconds ) but Garmin and a few others you have to select what you are using
 

DBK

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I was given a handfull of coordinates when we went to cornwall & i spent a good week trying to figure them out
Google earth woudnt take them
google dont recognise them
they were useless in the sat nav
in the end i stck the name in & just zoomed in on google earth & took a chance to find pra sands
If you want to get to the bottom of this can you post one of the coordinates you were given? Coordinates really are a very good way of defining a location.
 

DanielFord

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Also, to get decimal and degs/mins/secs from Google maps, right click the location and select "What's here" a little popup should appear showing the Lat/Long in both formats.
The reverse, in the map search enter a set of co-ordinates, eg "37.152637, -7.888638" and hit return, the map will jump to that location (my example is the town square in Sao Bras De Alportel, Portugal)

[edited to correct coordinate format]

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spitfire

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Afraid you must be doing something wrong as they are very much more accurate than postcodes especially at this side of the channel.. Using French postcodes will see you gong around in circles all day long, just in passing which sat.nav. are you using
That is indeed true Alan :) Our post code covers several villages !!
 

Popeye

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Whats wrong with a good ol fashioned postcode

Good Old Fashioned Post Codes were first thought up in the UK in 1959 and came in to general use around 1970- 1974.

Coordinates have been in use for many hundreds of years and the Greenwich meridian has been official since 1884, now that is "Good Old Fashioned" or reliable.......
 

mikebeaches

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It took me a while to get into using co-ordinates with the sat-nav etc. The first problem I had was that the old budget TomTom I had didn't accept GPS co-ords, which had me completely foxed. So a new model was acquired and then it all became relatively straightforward. And as others have said, they are of course very accurate for getting you to a specific destination.

One other thing, I always take great care to double check my 'inputing' of the figures - it's easy to get a digit wrong, which would result in being completely mis-directed.

Hope you can get it sorted.

Mike

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Tootles

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Everyone seams to post coordinates whats the deal ?

I cant find a way of making them useful so why ? Ive tried & even searched on the net & tried putting them in my sat nav & nothing.

Am I missing something here.......................?

Whats wrong with a good ol fashioned postcode or cross road & Town :mad:
My wife, (the navigator), uses the 'Pin-Prick' system of co-ordination. She sees on the map where she wants to go, sticks a pin into it, then instructs the prick next to her which way to drive. :)
Surprisingly, it works very well, but when we bought our £500 Sat Nav, she used that instead of a map. Now it leaks gooey stuff down the screen, and dosent seem to work very well. :(
 

keith

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Strandard in a small village in Spain, MH won't start. Phone ADAC they ask where are you.

Problem 1: I don't know how to pronounce the name of the village so they don't know where I am.

Look on sat nav or Google on PC or phone, give them co-ordinates "Oh we see where you are now", 20 mins later help arrives.

Promlem solved, and this is why co-ordinates are a vital part of travelling around Europe.
 

Frentchy

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I have been trying to find a recent post on here about a word associated location system, it was a good idea; I tried it and it was spot on, I didn't book mark it so I "lost" it:(, does any one else know where it is?:)

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Nov 6, 2008
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Co-ordinates will pinpoint a destination, within a metre. There are different co-ordinate expressions, my Garmin can use any if i set it correctly. Are you using the correct setting on yours?

Craig
 

Frentchy

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Sorry Rs RoB I thought Tootles started this thread, I did think it un-usual for him:rolleyes: Here is another,module suckled grumpy(y)
 

Busman

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Well can someone help me with this, I'm looking up a aire at oradour sur glane it's
N 45.935669
E1.024890
Or
N45.56.8
E1.1.29
The co-ordinates on my garmin 660 are
h ddd.ddddd
h ddd mm mmm
h ddd mm ss.s
None of those seem to match ???
Confused
 

JeanLuc

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The top format in your post is h ddd.ddddd

Just select that format on the Garmin then input N 45.93567 , E 1.02489 (I have rounded the N value to 5 decimal places).

p.s. you ignore the 'h' as that is for hours and you are working in degrees only.

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