Thread: Brush Pile Coordinates

Jusitinp61, go back and look at the longitude that it is showing for the numbers you inputted (38 15 48.686 -93 33 26.466). The second set of numbers (-93 33 26.466) is the longitude yet the converter is showing it as E 686 93.550 because it picked up on the 686 from the decimal seconds for the latitude. This puts the waypoint somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean. Change the data to 38 15 48 -93 33 26 (dropping the decimal degrees) and it puts you on Truman Reservoir.

Sorry about that, the map didn't come up after it converted. I'd have a hard time finding the way points wouldn't I.

Originally Posted by Humminbird_Greg

Not trying to stick my nose into a post about another company’s product here but…
If these are the coordinates from this web page:
http://newmdcgis.mdc.mo.gov/statewid...202/index.html
then it states that: “The download coordinates are in degrees, minutes and seconds”. The coordinates are showing decimal seconds as well. Set your unit up to use DDD MM SS and just drop off the numbers after the whole seconds.

Example: 38 15' 48.686' N would get entered as N38 degrees, 15 minutes and 48 seconds (you could round up to 49 seconds).

I’ve dealt with the coordinates from this web site before for others who wanted to load them to their Humminbird units.

If you stick your nose in on someone else product, your just showing how nice a guy you are, help of any kind is appreciated, your product or not, thanks

Dropping the decimal seconds can easily create a 100ft error in a waypoint. Calculating decimal minutes from seconds and decimal seconds is most accurate.

For example, 38 15 48, -93 33 26 is 79 feet from 38 15 48.686 -93 33 26.466

CrappieMop .... you have the capacity to store 5000 waypoints in a HDS8 !!

I have a Elite 5DSI, capable of holding 3000 waypoints ... and I only have 100 on one lake entered. Even if I had 200 on each lake I fish, I'd probably have over 1000 empty waypoint spaces. And 200 waypoints would likely take me over a week of fishing 12hr days @ 30mins per waypoint !!

My unit does not have the "options" for the various coordinates conversions, and the waypoints I got were the decimal degrees version (on the map I took them from). I used the "converter" program site that Justinp61 has in his post, and converted the coordinates to GPS numbers, then manually entered them into the unit. Took the boat/unit to the lake, fired up the unit & went looking to see how accurate the coord's were. When the boat icon was centered over the waypoint icon ... the sonar screen lit up with the brushpiles that were dropped. DEAD ON !!

I had to chuckle at Greg's remark about some of the numbers putting one out in the ocean. You see, the reason I even LOOKED for a converter was because I input the decimal degrees numbers in my unit (manually) and looked to see how accurate they were. I had to clip off the last digit, in order to make them fit, but figured "seconds" were the "last few feet" of the equation. Boy, was I wrong ... my waypoints ended up being 40 miles away from the lake
After converting them to GPS .... they've proved to be a lot more accurate than I ever imagined/expected they'd be.

... cp

I agree CatFan, a thousandth of a minute gets you down into the 6-foot range which is a whole lot better than 100-foot range! Even better than that is using an all degree number. Not sure what his HDS8 is capable of but five decimal places in degrees will get you down into the 3-foot range. I guess to get better than that your system would have allow for six or more decimal places or switch to using the UTM system. When I help Customers convert their waypoints I always use the DD.ddddd system for its better accuracy. It takes a little math to get to the all decimal numbers but using an EXCEL spreadsheet helps when there is more than just a few to deal with.

Edit: Oops! Did not see your post crappiepappy. Guess you were posting while I was still typing. Decimal degrees is definitely the way to go if you want accurate waypoints!

Thanks to all for the help--i will try out some of the suggestions next week and let ya know what works..
Thanks again

[QUOTE=CatFan;2165352]You can just divide the third number by 60 and put the result after the MM.

For example 48.686/60=.8114, so that first one becomes N 38 15.8114. Give that a shot on a couple of trial points and see if they are closer.[/QUOT

CatFan this worked great--I was close enough my down imaging picked up the brushpile.
Thanks again....