How to determine latitude and longitude values for an address that is not found

Transcription

1 How to determine latitude and longitude values for an address that is not found There are a number of maps in MemoryMiner. In order to see our places on these maps, they need latitude and longitude numbers. The web services that MemoryMiner uses know many parts of the world. However, there are areas that they struggle with. When you run into an address in one of these areas, you will need to manually enter the latitude and longitude for it. The two basic steps are to determine the lat/long for a given address and then to make sure that those numbers are in decimal format so that they work in MemoryMiner. Determine the lat/long for a given address For all addresses: Use Google Earth. Google Earth is a free download and is not only useful but fun. Go to application preferences and tell it to show you coordinates in decimal format. On Macintosh: Make sure Google Earth is the frontmost application and choose Google Earth, Preferences. Select the View tab. Under Rednering, select "Degrees" instead of "Degrees, Minutes, Seconds". Click OK. On Windows: On the Google Earth menu bar, choose Tools, Options. Select the View tab. Under Rednering, select "Degrees" instead of "Degrees, Minutes, Seconds". Click OK. The interface is very busy so try closing the "Places" and "Layers" panes on the left-hand side of the screen. Notice that below the earth are latitude and longitude numbers in degrees/minutes/seconds format. The first tab "Fly To" should already be selected. Enter your address in the search field and press enter. If it is not found, try a nearby city in the same country. Then you can navigate the map by dragging it or you can use the arrow buttons in the navigation panel below the map. You can also click on the plus "+" and minus "-" buttons in the navigation panel to zoom in and out. As you move your cursor across the map, you can watch the latitude and longitude numbers update. There are many layers that can be shown on Google Earth. Borders, Roads, Populated Places, Airports, National Geographic Magazine, the Google Earth Community site, and many more. These can be found by opening up the Layers pane and checking the boxes. Six of the most popular layers are available directly on the navigation panel. For an address outside of the United States: To find a specific address, try the Maporama web site. After locating a general area, you can click on the "Recenter" button below the map. Now by clicking on a specific place on the map, it will recenter. There is an "Information" box in the lower left-hand column that shows the latitude and longitude of the location you have selected. This information changes each time you recenter the map. For a city outside of the United States: To find a city, check the following sites: For addresses inside the United States: For those cases when the web services cannot locate your address, you can use the Microsoft TerraServer Advanced Find Address. After locating your address, it will give you one or more mapping options. After choosing one, it will populate the "Longitude" and "Latitude" input boxes in the left-hand column. Again, you can click anywhere on the map to recenter it and recalculate lat/long. Make sure the numbers are in decimal format Many times, latitude and longitude are represented by degrees, minutes, and seconds. MemoryMiner uses the decimal representation. The easiest way to convert them is to use a conversion calculator. Here is an example of one: Example: The Castle Rock This is an example from inside of the United States where there is no address for a location. There is a town near Denver, Colorado called Castle Rock. The name comes from a huge rock that resembles a castle. It sits at the top of a hill and can be seen from just about anywhere in town. I like to take my family hiking and climbing there so I have a number of pictures from this area. When creating the Place in MemoryMiner, there is no address to use so the only way to communicate the location is to use latitude and longitude. Here is the process that I used to find those numbers. Open Google Earth. After doing so, you will see a window similar to this one.

2 First things first. If you haven't done so already, go to application preferences. Choose the View tab. Under Rendering, for "Lat/Lon:" choose "Degrees" so that coordinates are shown in decimal format. Now enter the city and state that we are looking for and press enter. You will see something like this:

3 If you drag the map down about one full screen (or use the up arrow), you will see The Castle Rock. As you hover your mouse over the map, the status bar at the bottom of the map will show your latitude, longitude and elevation. Write down the latitude and longitude numbers. This is what you need to enter into MemoryMiner. If you move your cursor from the top of the hill to the bottom, you can tell how high it is by looking at the difference in altitude. Notice that this location is more than 1000 feet above the mile high city. Before leaving Google Earth, have a little fun. Make sure the Terrain checkbox is checked and press the Tilt Down button to see how Google Earth shows land features using elevation and perspective.

4 Okay, enough fun. Head over to MemoryMiner and enter the latitude and longitude numbers. Click on the Get Map button and watch it find our location.

5 You can use similar techniques to find any location in the world.