Lat/long - UTM conversion

[Sean Edwards]

Mark H. Mayfield wrote:
> I suspect one could convert ddmmss to UTM on a GPS receiver in a
> pinch by putting in a "waypoint" using one or the other coordinate
> system and setting it to display in your favorite.

Yes, this is true. Our problem is the British Ordnance Survey grid
system, and converting it to lat/long or whatever, specifically for
data entry of our herbarium specimens. And finding a DBMS that, for
example, allows input of OS (which is the way most of our UK
herbarium data are) and interprets it as a real position rather than
an alpha-numeric string, and can present if for example as lat/long.

This seems to be a problem !

However I have a small, relatively inexpensive and fairly old GPS
unit (Garmin 12), that does this at a flick of a switch
(more-or-less). Change from OS to lat/long, or just about anything
else on the planet, and your position or waypoint is presented
accordingly. I suspect that they all do this?

So why is this a problem for data input?

Sean

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sean R. Edwards BSc PhD,
Keeper of Botany,
The Manchester Museum, Manchester University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
'Phone: +44 (0)161-275-2671/2; fax: +44 (0)161-275-2676
Email: sean.edwards at man.ac.uk
Website: http://www.museum.man.ac.uk/