Comments on: Air Crash Rescue Complicated by Latitude, Longitude

By: James

James — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:36:07 +0000

The other method of notating either E/W longitude or N/S latitude is negative numbers. If the number given is negative, it is either a SOUTH latitude or a WEST longitude. If you are in North America, a negative # will always be the longitude coordinate. Also, be mindful of how your ANI/ ALI screen displays coordinates. Some systems, like the one my agency uses, display longitude 1st, which is backwards from the way you would need to enter it in Google, mapquest, etc. I’m not suggesting you need a new system or anything like that, just that we all need to be aware of all the variables so that these types of articles become fewer & farther between. Thanks for the article, I’m definitely going to share it with my coworkers & trainees!

By: Brendan

Brendan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:26:10 +0000

As a dispatcher I’ve noticed most Computer Aided Dispach software systems use +/- Degrees (27.1234 -82.1234) as that is how the computer maps it. But everyone else uses the standard format from GPS Degrees decimal (N27 12.345 W082 12.345).

I’m not sure about most agencies, but all state law enforcment in FL (FHP, FWC, DEP, etc) have 4 format options for entering lat and long with automatic conversion.

By: Gary Allen

Gary Allen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:50:46 +0000

Thanks for catching that mistake. I’ve corrected the two sentences to clarify latitude and longitude.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:33:38 +0000

A seemingly minor mistake in either the number or direction can substantially mis-locate a victim’s position. In addition, mistaking the format of the latitude and longitude would also mis-locate the victim’s position.

Boy, does it ever! Seriously though, once that is corrected in the article this is a very well-written piece that will be shared in our Center for training. Thank you!

By: David

David — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:05:25 +0000

“Latitude indicates a position either north or south from the equator, in degrees from zero to 90. Latitude indicates a position either east or west from the Greenwich meridian near London, in degrees from zero to 180.”

This doesn’t make sense. One of those “Latitude”s needs to be a longitude. This should be edited for clarity.

By: Gary Oldham

Gary Oldham — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 04:44:43 +0000

Your examples of how to enter the different formats of latitude and longitude is a real service! I’ve had to lots of training and retraining of dispatchers to help them understand the difference and give them tools to convert one system to the other when “translating” from one to the other. Thank you for that!