Obtaining GPS waypoints off Google Earth
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Obtaining GPS waypoints off Google Earth
Just a quick tip for anyone who may be interested in using Google Earth to obtain waypoints for their GPS (places of interest and suchlike which may not be in the aviation database). If you place the cursor over the relevant point on the satellite image you can read off the Lat/Long on the bottom line listed as Degrees/Minutes/Seconds (DMS). The following web site will convert this to Degrees/Decimal minutes which is the standard GPS format:
www.terraserver.com/tools/degrees_converter.asp
This is also handy for setting up car SatNavs as I often find that postcodes can place you several hundred metres from your destination ... with Google Earth you can arrive on the dotted centreline of the driveway (or runway!) .... at least where you're covered by one of the brilliant high res images !
www.terraserver.com/tools/degrees_converter.asp
This is also handy for setting up car SatNavs as I often find that postcodes can place you several hundred metres from your destination ... with Google Earth you can arrive on the dotted centreline of the driveway (or runway!) .... at least where you're covered by one of the brilliant high res images !
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There is one make of satNav which takes people trying to find our house to an industrial estate, 3 miles away. In fact it puts them right outside the Post Office sorting office.
i guess the machine is saying "I dunno where this house is - ask postman!"
i guess the machine is saying "I dunno where this house is - ask postman!"
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If you place the cursor over the relevant point on the satellite image you can read off the Lat/Long on the bottom line listed as Degrees/Minutes/Seconds (DMS). The following web site will convert this to Degrees/Decimal minutes which is the standard GPS format:
www.terraserver.com/tools/degrees_converter.asp
www.terraserver.com/tools/degrees_converter.asp
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This is also handy for setting up car SatNavs as I often find that postcodes can place you several hundred metres from your destination
Surely if you're that close to your destination it's not a problem to find it? Handy programme though.
Surely if you're that close to your destination it's not a problem to find it? Handy programme though.
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I agree that if you are a few hundred metres off when arriving at an airfield it is not a problem in VFR as it will be easy to spot. However, with an auto SatNav such as a TomTom you obviously don't get a birds eye view and at a new destination on a dark night with no convenient signposts you can still end up driving around for 10 mins trying to find the right place.
For example, my business partner was invited to a shoot in Cornwall and asked me to set the destination waypoint on his TomTom. I put in the postcode and then checked the position on Google Earth. From this I could see that the SatNav was going to take him 200M to the west of his host's country house which took him up a farm track with a thick wood between him and the destination ..... he wouldn't even have been able to see the property and, by road, he was still a couple of miles from the main gates - totally lost. I created a user waypoint that was spot on the main entrance gates .... the TomTom performed flawlessly and dumped him, at night, on the main drive after miles of country lanes.
I'm sure this will be immensely boring to most pilots, but my purpose was simply to point out the brilliance of Google Earth in pin-pointing waypoints, and then to get the Lat/Long format into one that can be used on a GPS !
For example, my business partner was invited to a shoot in Cornwall and asked me to set the destination waypoint on his TomTom. I put in the postcode and then checked the position on Google Earth. From this I could see that the SatNav was going to take him 200M to the west of his host's country house which took him up a farm track with a thick wood between him and the destination ..... he wouldn't even have been able to see the property and, by road, he was still a couple of miles from the main gates - totally lost. I created a user waypoint that was spot on the main entrance gates .... the TomTom performed flawlessly and dumped him, at night, on the main drive after miles of country lanes.
I'm sure this will be immensely boring to most pilots, but my purpose was simply to point out the brilliance of Google Earth in pin-pointing waypoints, and then to get the Lat/Long format into one that can be used on a GPS !
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I had a look but failed to find anywhere in Google Earth where it
(1) gave specifications for the accuracy of any waypoints you might choose to create
(2) gave disclaimers of any responsibility should you be daft enough to choose to use their data as your primary means of navigating an aircraft (no problem with using it as a secondary data source of course).
Can someone point me at the bit I missed please?
(1) gave specifications for the accuracy of any waypoints you might choose to create
(2) gave disclaimers of any responsibility should you be daft enough to choose to use their data as your primary means of navigating an aircraft (no problem with using it as a secondary data source of course).
Can someone point me at the bit I missed please?
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I have checked many of my Garmin 496 'captured' waypoints on Google Earth and find them to be easily within 3 metres accuracy and probably better than that. My 496 and panel mounted Garmin 530 are both EGNOS enabled and so, as you are no doubt aware being an IT expert, this is verified by ground station down to an accuracy of 1 to 2 metres (see www.esa.int/esaNA/GGG63950NDC_egnos_0.html ).
For the record, I use GPS as a primary form of navigation all the time (with EGNOS enabled) except for instrument approaches in IMC. VORs (when they are working) are only used as secondary cross checks when enroute.
I have also emailed Google, out of interest, and asked them to comment on the Lat/Long accuracy of their Earth product. However, quite apart from my own verification, it is obvious from the user guide that accurate location and distance calculations are a fundamental basis on which the product is built (see http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_measuring.html ). It is often used in conjunction with a GPS receivor as a moving map so it really is not the 'toy' you seem to be suggesting. I will let you know their response.
You stick to your map and clock if you want to (and the 30% of the year that this technique allows you to fly) but please be aware that the merry band of GPS whingers is thankfully in decline. (and if the fifty or so of you left feel inclined to have a rant then please just start your own thread so that I can avoid it )
For the record, I use GPS as a primary form of navigation all the time (with EGNOS enabled) except for instrument approaches in IMC. VORs (when they are working) are only used as secondary cross checks when enroute.
I have also emailed Google, out of interest, and asked them to comment on the Lat/Long accuracy of their Earth product. However, quite apart from my own verification, it is obvious from the user guide that accurate location and distance calculations are a fundamental basis on which the product is built (see http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_measuring.html ). It is often used in conjunction with a GPS receivor as a moving map so it really is not the 'toy' you seem to be suggesting. I will let you know their response.
You stick to your map and clock if you want to (and the 30% of the year that this technique allows you to fly) but please be aware that the merry band of GPS whingers is thankfully in decline. (and if the fifty or so of you left feel inclined to have a rant then please just start your own thread so that I can avoid it )
