GPS Course Notes
WORKING WITH LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

Two tips to make it easier to use latitude and longitude:

1. Draw lines across the map to join the tick marks

Also number the lines on the map.

Then you don't need to measure from the margins of the map, only from the nearest lat/long line, so you can work with the map folded - on your knee in a dugout or on your hammock in camp.

2. Make yourself a ruler to measure latitude and longitude

A sample ruler for the Kuching area is along the edge of this page. Photocopy and cut it out. On the web, sizes do not come out correctly, so you'll have to make your own!

Check it against the latitude and longitude marked along the edge of the map you will use.

For the Kuching area, 5' of longitude is 18.6cm and 5' of latitude is 18.4. We made the ruler 18.5 cm long, so it will be a little bit short for longitude and a little bit long for latitude, but only by 0.1 cm or 1 mm, which represents 50m on the ground.

If you are working on a different map, you will have to measure your own map and make your own ruler; you may need different scales for latitude and for longitude.