Can coordinates be used to add a waypoint?

[Peobody]

A buddy and I are working on a route for a trip in a couple of weeks. There is a historic building along the way that we want to check out. Basecamp mis-positions its address so I used the coordinates from a Google Maps pin to position my waypoint. I then sent him the contents of the Position field from my BC waypoint. He called me a little while later asking if I knew of a way to add a waypoint using just position coordinates. I couldn't figure out a way either. Does anyone know if that is possible?

BTW, we solved our problem by me providing address details.

[jfheath]

jfheath edited his own post : This is a rubbish answer. Move along, nothing to see here .... (John)

I don't think so - not on the XT screen. You can see the lat/long coordinates of a waypoint / saved location - but you cannot edit it.

You could use a text editor on your phone and build a simple gpx file.

<gpx>
<wpt lat="53.924878584221005" lon="-1.927077490836382"><name>Point 1</name></wpt>
<wpt lat="53.924878584221005" lon="-1.927077490836382"><name>Point 2</name></wpt>
.
.
.
.
</gpx>

Then send it to your phone's drive app and let the XT load it in. They will be imported to Favourites / Saved.

I've not tried this but in theory that should work. I have seen shorter lat/long numbers - eg in MyRouteApp. The XT tends to adjust them anyway.


It would get a bit complicated if your coordinates were in deg, min, sec or something similar.

[Peobody]

I don't think so - not on the XT screen. You can see the lat/long coordinates of a waypoint / saved location - but you cannot edit it.

My question was specific to adding a waypoint in BaseCamp using coordinates. Sorry that wasn't clear.

[ZFtracker]

Unless I am not understanding, here's what I do.

I add waypoints to Basecamp using coordinates grabbed from Google by copying and then opening Basecamp and clicking on "Find", then "Locate Coordinates", then paste the coordinates in "Center At", then click "Recenter". Zoom in, if necessary, check the location and then click on "Create Waypoint". I then fill in additional info to identify the waypoint.

[Peobody]

Thank you @ZFtracker. That is exactly what I was looking for. Your reference to the Find menu is of more value though. I have always used Ctrl+F or Ctrl+Alt+F so I never noticed the other functions in the Find menu.

[sussamb]

Is there not a where to, coordinates on the XT?

You can also do Ctrl plus T in BaseCamp to insert a waypoint if you know the coordinates.

[khunpaul]

As a regular walker/hiker I often have to find obscure car parks.
I find them on Google Earth, usually down to street level, then make a placemark at the entrance. Then create a waypoint on BC nearby. Then change the coordinates on BC to be exactly as per the GE placemark.
I not only use this for car or motorcycle GPS but also for my GPSMAP so that I have it stored for my return walk back to car park.
QED.

[jfheath]

Is there not a where to, coordinates on the XT?

You can also do Ctrl plus T in BaseCamp to insert a waypoint if you know the coordinates.

Yes there is. I'd seen it, never used it and when I just selected it realised that I had never actually pressed that option before.

Makes my answer above look completely stupid ! - I'm going to edit it to say so .

In BAsecamp, if I want to do this, I place a flag - anywhere, and then double click the new point in the bottom left hand pane.
You can enter the co-ordinates in whatever form you have and BC will convert it for you
It will convert it to whatever format you have selected in Edit->Options->Measurement->Position

BC lat-long.jpg (71.71 KiB) Viewed 1891 times

Click the picture to see a larger version.

In the above formats h = Hemisphere ie N or S / E or W
s = sign eg + for N or W, - for S or E

I find hddd.ddddd the easiest to use for entering data. eg N54.12345 W2.67890

For other formats it isn't always easy to find where the degree ° symbol is on the keyboard.
On the PC you can use the number keypad on the right. Make sure NUM LOCK is on, hold down the ALT key and type 248 and let go of the ALT key.

But I spend more time reminding myself how to do it than it is worth. If I need to, I copy one to the clipboard and paste it using the PC keyboard shortcut CTRL-V

[Peobody]

In BAsecamp, if I want to do this, I place a flag - anywhere, and then double click the new point in the bottom left hand pane.
You can enter the co-ordinates in whatever form you have and BC will convert it for you

This is what I had been doing, copying the coordinates from Google Maps and pasting them into the waypoint's Position field.
When I shared the coordinates with my buddy I was assuming that there was an easy way to create a waypoint using coordinates but we couldn't find one. Neither of us thought to look in the Find menu. I'm not sure the Local Coordinates option would have registered anyway since the coordinates were far away from what I would consider "Local". Anyways, I'm thankful for now knowing about this function.

[electro_handyman]

Little late to the party here, but I'll add that I have to use coordinates when routing on OSM maps. As some may know OSM maps don't have much of an address database for searching.