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Converting Degrees, Minutes, Seconds to NE


jonosbg

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I need to convert DMS to NE coordinates so I can place my GPS points in CAD. I'd like to be able to do this without having to download any software and I figure there has to be a way to do it in CAD. I'm working in Civil 3D '08 if this helps...

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I may be missing something, but I thought Degrees, Minutes and Seconds represented an angle, and NE coordinates are actual points.

 

An angle can be represented by an infinite number of points, all lying on the line f(x) = tan(theta)x where theta is your angle.

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This may better illustrate my point :P :P

 

(defun c:pts (/ i x y)
 (setq i (/ pi 6) x 0)
 (while (<= x 10)
   (setq y (* x (/ (sin i) (cos i))))
   (command "_point" (list x y))
   (setq x (+ x 0.01)))
 (princ))

 

i is the your angle - (in radians in this case)

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DMS in latitude/longitude.

 

EX:

 

Corner 1

LAT: N 27° 20’ 12.4” E 479928.5500

LONG: W 82° 32’ 34.3” N 1091978.7200

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Is this what you want to quote Civil3d help

 

Before you can enter meaningful latitude and longitude values, you must specify a zone and coordinate system (and, optionally, transformation settings) for the drawing.

 

We are MGA zone55 Australia

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  • 1 year later...

Theres a lot more to converting lat&longs to N&E than a simple formula its relevant to where you are in the world lots of things creep in like the curvature of the Earth what altitude your at.

 

You need to find a local country dependant conversion program thats why CIV3d asks questions about where you are in the world.

 

So where are you located then others can help. There are free programs out there Surveyors go to school for at least 4 years it is that complicated.

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Is this what you want to quote Civil3d help

 

Before you can enter meaningful latitude and longitude values, you must specify a zone and coordinate system (and, optionally, transformation settings) for the drawing.

 

We are MGA zone55 Australia

 

 

My thought too. For in California we so often quote "State Plane" coordinates, and origin is actually out in the Pacific ocean someplace. This makes all positions have a positive number.

 

 

Wm.

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This is a really really old post, and the OP hasn't logged in for over a year, but what the heck.

 

Corpscon is, by far, the best free coordinate conversion software available... assuming you live in the USA, and assuming you have the data available in a tabular format. It's even better than lots of commercial software out there.

 

DMS GPS coordinates will work world-wide. There are no zones or regions. "Northing-Easting" coordinates can be any number of things. World-wide it could mean UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates. In the USA, it could mean State Plane coordinates. It could mean something else in another country. In any system it could be in US Survey feet, International feet, or meters. Most of these "flat plane" systems have various zones (UTM Zone 11N could have the same set of coordinates as UTM Zone 16N). And then you get into variations based on the earth spheroid model used at the time of the survey.

 

I've got a project where my group is working with AutoCad and Civil 3D using state plane coordinates (California Zone 6, US Survey Feet). Another group is working with ArcGIS using UTM coordinates (Zone 11N, meters). Plus we've had to import track files and points taken with a hand-held GPS receiver in DMS coordinates. And finally, we've had to convert to DMS for viewing and presentations using Google Earth Pro.

 

For this last work (converting various file types between each other and with different coordinate systems), I can't rave enough about ExpertGPS. It works quickly and smoothly, customer support is excellent (I found a glitch with DXF conversion early on, notified the author, and he had the problem fixed and a new version available for download within a day or so), and it's very cheap compared to the cost of another seat of Map or ArcGIS.

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