Chapter Wrapup

This chapter provided a look at what goes into setting up coordinates and references for data used with geospatial technology. Whether you’re reading coordinates from a GPS receiver or making measurements from a map, knowing how that geospatial information is put together and referenced has an impact on how you’re able to make use of that data, especially if you’re trying to fit several types of geospatial data together. Check out the Apps, Blogs, and Social Media box for some downloadable apps and YouTube videos that deal with this chapter’s concepts.

In the next chapter, we’re going to switch gears and look at how you can take your data (whether it’s a remotely sensed image, some information created using GIS, or a paper map of the local fairgrounds) and get it to match up with all the other geospatial data you have. Before that, this chapter’s lab (see Geospatial Lab Application 2.1: Coordinates and Position Measurements) will have you start applying the coordinate and measurement concepts described in this chapter with some more work with Google Earth.

Important note: The references for this chapter are part of the online companion for this book and can be found at http://www.whfreeman.com/shellito2e.

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Apps, Blogs, and Social Media

Here’s a sampling of available apps for your mobile device (note that some apps are for Android, some are for Apple iOS, and some may be available for both), as well as some social media outlets related to this chapter’s concepts.

Some representative apps for use on your phone or tablet:

  • Coordinate Tools Free: An app that converts coordinates and plots them on a map
  • Latitude Longitude Convert: An app that converts from DMS to Decimal Degrees, and also plots the location using Google Maps
  • LatLongCalc: An app that converts latitude and longitude to other formats (such as UTM)
  • Map Tools: An app that allows conversion of coordinates between projections and datums

On YouTube, watch the videos of the following:

  • Latitude and Longitude (a video demonstrating concepts of latitude and longitude using Google Earth): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swKBi6hHHMA
  • Map Projections (an Esri video showing map projection concepts): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LcyMemJ3dE