Is GPS acurate enough?

[TerryC]

Terry now most of us do not know what 10 meters is...1 ft...2 ft..3ft..or more or less.. ... You have to know that most of us went to school in the USA.. Is not 10 meters like 34 feet ??

Sorry Kep.... and all you that aren't on the meter band wagon yet. A meter is about 39 inches. I like using meters because no conversion from UTM when thinking in meters. Oh, UTM is another way of measure on a map. Besides, if you want to think meters, from yards, just add 10 yards... that is to say, 100 meters is 110 yards... and so on. 50 meters is 55 yards. TTC

 

[Bum Luck]

You lost me after "11,000 miles....." !!!!!

You really wanna know? Or ya want that in meters?

 

[BVI Hunter]

You really wanna know? Or ya want that in meters?

 

[TerryC]

I heard somewhere that the USA and Liberia (an African country founded by former US slaves) are the only two countries still on the English measure. All the rest do meters. TTC

 

[Frankn]

I heard somewhere that the USA and Liberia (an African country founded by former US slaves) are the only two countries still on the English measure. All the rest do meters. TTC

My physics instructor once said the metric system is the perfect system because it is based on the diameter of the earth at the equator. I asked him who measured it! LOL Frank...

 

[TerryC]

My physics instructor once said the metric system is the perfect system because it is based on the diameter of the earth at the equator. I asked him who measured it! LOL Frank...

View attachment 811814

Neat! A little trivia ( I learned while working at Kennedy Space Center): All satellites have to go around the earth at about 17,500 mph (that's MILES ph , not METERS ph). Slower and they fall to earth.... faster and they will escape earth's gravity. The international space station is regularly "boosted" back up to its orbit by thrusters. When they put the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) into operation, they learned that meteoric activity produces "bangs" in the upper atmosphere large enough to be "seen" as an atom bomb about once every two weeks. ( I got a TON of these facts) TTC

 

[Bum Luck]

My physics instructor once said the metric system is the perfect system because it is based on the diameter of the earth at the equator. I asked him who measured it! LOL Frank...

Frank, that sounds like you don't "believe" it can be done.

Honest - there really is such a thing as mathematics, and it really works. Very intelligent people have been doing outstanding things since Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz.

 

[Frankn]

Frank, that sounds like you don't "believe" it can be done.

Honest - there really is such a thing as mathematics, and it really works. Very intelligent people have been doing outstanding things since Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz.

Ah yes, but the earths equator is not constant! It even changes with each tide. Is the meter variable? lol
Just my observation! Frank

 

[Bum Luck]

I've not heard that the shape or dimension of the earth changes. Tides don't count. MSL = Mean Sea Level.

The Metre:

Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole (at sea level), its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology. Since 1983, it has been defined as "the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.

Us surveyors know that the exact shape of the Earth is not a simple mathematical shape; it's an oblate spheroid at the level of precision required for defining a standard of length. The irregular and particular shape of the Earth (smoothed to sea level) is called a Geoid, which means "Earth-shaped". We deal with this all the time. Although it was later determined that the first French prototype metre bar was short by a fifth of a millimetre because of miscalculation of the flattening of the Earth, this length became the standard, until 1983.

So, there's nothing particularly special about the arbitrary "standard" of one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole (at sea level). It was just adopted for convenience (and I think the French were proud that they could calculate that).

The chief attraction of the metric system is that it can easily be divided by 10 based numbers. It's chief drawback is that it was invented by the French.

 

[Number9]

Sorry Kep.... and all you that aren't on the meter band wagon yet. A meter is about 39 inches. I like using meters because no conversion from UTM when thinking in meters. Oh, UTM is another way of measure on a map. Besides, if you want to think meters, from yards, just add 10 yards... that is to say, 100 meters is 110 yards... and so on. 50 meters is 55 yards. TTC

Yeah.. if you know ground navigation you must use the UTM coordinate system with your GPS. Yes it's metric, but is a direct measure over land. If you use degrees, minutes, and seconds on your GPS, this is a sign of a rookie or only a "GPS follower"... and not a real navigator!
Right, Terry!?

 

[Keppy]

I heard somewhere that the USA and Liberia (an African country founded by former US slaves) are the only two countries still on the English measure. All the rest do meters. TTC

.. Thank god Terry that there are still to smart countries left in this world.....The USA & that African country....... I never got in to that meter thing...... I have a hard enough time cleaning out my garage.........

 

[Keppy]

Yeah.. if you know ground navigation you must use the UTM coordinate system with your GPS. Yes it's metric, but is a direct measure over land. If you use degrees, minutes, and seconds on your GPS, this is a sign of a rookie or only a "GPS follower"... and not a real navigator!
Right, Terry!?

.......... Well i am not a real navigator ...And i really don't care............ What ever a real navigator is..? So just call me a rookie and i still don't care...... You guys are just to smart for me ..... I will just stay with the dumb rookies from the good old USA........

 

[Number9]

.......... Well i am not a real navigator ...And i really don't care............ What ever a real navigator is..? So just call me a rookie and i still don't care...... You guys are just to smart for me ..... I will just stay with the dumb rookies from the good old USA........

"...Let no one know what,were or when..."
They are 5 W's... Who, What, When, Where, and Why... Smile, it's Saturday!

 

[Keppy]

"...Let no one know what,were or when..."
They are 5 W's... Who, What, When, Where, and Why... Smile, it's Saturday!

But we know why we do it .. But we do not want any one to know , who did it , what was found , or were it was found........Or when it was found......

 

[Number9]

But we know why we do it .. But we do not want any one to know , who did it , what was found , or were it was found........Or when it was found......

I think you're just a sneaky type guy!?

Oh... there's a 6th "W"...
it's for Wayne and he said for you to have a great weekend!

 

[Keppy]

I think you're just a sneaky type guy!?

Oh... there's a 6th "W"...
it's for Wayne and he said for you to have a great weekend!

...... Thank you .. And right back at you.......

 

[Frankn]

Well, I have to admit that I have used both systems and have complete sets of both wrench systems, I also have to admit that when I did surveying I used a transit, rod, chain, log book and trig mantisit book. I know times have changed, But to me the metric system is like working with multiples of 1/16" that stretch out to meters. There is no foot equivalent. That is the unit I use the most. I can talk to any American and say foot and they know the size. But when they have to deal with milli, micro, etc, it appears to be harder to work with. Just my opinion. Oh, by the way, how many mm down was that last coin? lol Frank...

 

[Number9]

Just remember... It's not the type measuring stick you're using... it's how you use the measuring stick you have!

I'm retired now, but for the last 45 years my trade was in mechanical/fabrication. And yes, we've been using the metric system here for a long time. Many companies where I worked used the metric system because the products were shipped overseas, or was fabricated to their specifications.
Converting back and forth between standard and metric was very common. Many subassemblies would either be in metric or standard,
so you might have both in the same unit. If you ever worked on vehicles from the 1980's you know what I'm saying... you would have both metric and standard nuts and bolts on the same car or truck!

I have no problem using UTM on navigation. Many geology and government maps use this system... It is also used by all the Search & Rescue units.

I also know the amount of liquor in a "5th"... it's when they don't put the other 20% in the bottle!!

Best at ya!
Wayne

 

[Bum Luck]

Well, I have to admit that I have used both systems and have complete sets of both wrench systems, I also have to admit that when I did surveying I used a transit, rod, chain, log book and trig mantisit book. I know times have changed, But to me the metric system is like working with multiples of 1/16" that stretch out to meters. There is no foot equivalent. That is the unit I use the most. I can talk to any American and say foot and they know the size. But when they have to deal with milli, micro, etc, it appears to be harder to work with. Just my opinion. Oh, by the way, how many mm down was that last coin? lol Frank...

Yeah I got the wrenches too. Gotta.

I don't like the French "metre" but use it when I have to - not too often.

You remember working in tenths and hundredths of a foot? It's actually pretty handy and takes away most of the "advantage" of the metre in linear measurement.

 

[Frankn]

Yes when I was learning drafting, the old way with 4H and ink (pre cad) we used foot dimensions for architectural renderings and 10th of inches for mechanical drawings.I still have both 3 sided scales. To tell you the truth, I don't like a lot of the changes in systems. When I learned electronics they used the term Cycles per second to designate a frequency. Now the frequency is designated as Hertz per second. Heinrick had to get his due ! Frank...