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What type of coordinates are these and how do I project them?

Question asked by ameador1 on Jun 25, 2015
Latest reply on Jun 25, 2015 by ameador1

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I have been given coordinate for a GPS point and need to plot the point on our GIS system.

This is the coordinates:

39 13.532 -79 40.027

I know about the Degrees Minutes Seconds format and decimal format, but I don't know what this format is or how to import it into the system.

I can put this into Bing Maps and it comes close to the location of where the point should be, but it off by a few hundred feet. So I'm assuming it's due to differing coordinate/datum systems. I will need to get with them to verify their settings, but will need to project to our data which is NAD_1983_StatePlane_West_Virginia_North_FIPS_4701_Feet.

The main question I guess is what to do with these coordinates - I don't know how to work with this format and what's the best way to get them into the ArcMap software?

Thanks!

iamurray Jun 25, 2015 6:19 AM

Correct Answer

Hi Andrew,

It looks like your coordinates are in Degrees Decimal Minutes. You will likely need to convert them to decimal degrees(not too terribly hard, do a google search for how to convert). Then you should be able to import the lat/long into arcgis.

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iamurray Jun 25, 2015 6:19 AM

Hi Andrew,

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ameador1 @ iamurray on Jun 25, 2015 7:01 AM

Yep, I figured it out. After staring at it for a while, the degrees were obvious and it finally hit me - OH! It's giving minutes and seconds by having a fractional minute! Did the conversion and found a video showing how to import the coordinate via an Excel spreadsheet. This then allowed displaying it based on the source datum - which I assume is WGS84. It's still not where the item is supposed to be, but I'm beginning to suspect GPS Unit/User error on the collecting side. Deep wooded area with leaves on the trees - we're lucky to get a reading at all in those conditions.

Anyway, thanks!

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Dan_Patterson

@ ameador1 on Jun 25, 2015 7:33 AM

In the future Andrew, tell whomever gave you the coordinates to switch the display to decimal degrees...saves everyone a whole lot of grief and usually takes two thumb selections on most gps units

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ameador1 @ Dan_Patterson on Jun 25, 2015 8:59 AM

This was a one time walk in customer - so not really possible to take this approach, and on the rare occasion that I have this happen, I would probably have to setup their GPS unit for them before they collected their data - which inherently won't happen as they don't come to me until they have their data in the first place.

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iamurray Jun 25, 2015 6:19 AM
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Correct Answer
Hi Andrew,

It looks like your coordinates are in Degrees Decimal Minutes. You will likely need to convert them to decimal degrees(not too terribly hard, do a google search for how to convert). Then you should be able to import the lat/long into arcgis.
3 people found this helpful
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- ameador1 @ iamurray on Jun 25, 2015 7:01 AM
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  Yep, I figured it out. After staring at it for a while, the degrees were obvious and it finally hit me - OH! It's giving minutes and seconds by having a fractional minute! Did the conversion and found a video showing how to import the coordinate via an Excel spreadsheet. This then allowed displaying it based on the source datum - which I assume is WGS84. It's still not where the item is supposed to be, but I'm beginning to suspect GPS Unit/User error on the collecting side. Deep wooded area with leaves on the trees - we're lucky to get a reading at all in those conditions.
  
  Anyway, thanks!
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  - Dan_Patterson @ ameador1 on Jun 25, 2015 7:33 AM
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    In the future Andrew, tell whomever gave you the coordinates to switch the display to decimal degrees...saves everyone a whole lot of grief and usually takes two thumb selections on most gps units
    1 person found this helpful
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    - ameador1 @ Dan_Patterson on Jun 25, 2015 8:59 AM
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      This was a one time walk in customer - so not really possible to take this approach, and on the rare occasion that I have this happen, I would probably have to setup their GPS unit for them before they collected their data - which inherently won't happen as they don't come to me until they have their data in the first place.
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What type of coordinates are these and how do I project them?

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