GPS Location Format on Maps

Latitude and longitude GPS coordinates are available in a variety of formats.  It is very important to have your GPS location format setup to match the format we use on the paddling trail maps, which is (Decimal Degrees)  This is accomplished by going into the Setup Menu on your particular GPS unit. 

*Please see your GPS Manual for specific information on how to change the settings*

All GPS units have a variety of location format settings that you can change.  Remember, these formats represent the same point location.  

Most GPS units are set by default to (Decimal Minutes).  So it is critical that you go into setup on your GPS unit and change your settings to (Decimal Degrees) before you enter our paddling locations and navigate.   Failure to do so will give you false GPS location readings.  Please see the examples below. 

The 3 most common location formats are:

• Decimal Degrees                        =      DD.DDDD    *Paddling Map format

• Degrees Minutes & Seconds      =      DD MM SS

• Decimal Minutes                         =      DD MM.MMM   

The example below shows the exact same point (Latitude) written in the different formats:

• Decimal Degrees                        =      29.9038

• Degrees Minutes & Seconds      =      29 54' 13.84"

• Decimal Minutes                         =      29 54.2306

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