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Hi This is indeed a tricky one to get one's head around. My counsel would be simple but a bit left field. Does the Uni have an Earth Sciences section. Those guys are used to logging locations where samples are found. Failing that, the British Geological Council would be a good ask. They have archives brimming with geo-located sample references. Hope this helps Regards Meic Meic Pierce Owen IRMS Chair -----Original Message----- From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jane Stevenson Sent: 04 December 2014 17:39 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Geographical coordinates Hi there, A rather specialised question, but geographers may lurk on this list....(Humphrey...are you there?) I'm looking at enabling Archives Hub contributors to add geographical coordinates to the geographical names they enter. But apparently latitude and longitude are not as straightforward as I thought. There are a number of systems that can be used, and the system you use can affect the entry. Wikipedia: "Latitude and longitude values can be based on different geodetic systems or datums, the most common being WGS 84, a global datum used by all GPS equipment. Other datums are significant because they were chosen by a national cartographical organisation as the best method for representing their region, and these are the datums used on printed maps. The latitude and longitude on a map may not be the same as on a GPS receiver. Coordinates from the mapping system can sometimes be roughly changed into another datum using a simple translation. For example, to convert from ETRF89 (GPS) to the Irish Grid add 49 metres to the east, and subtract 23.4 metres from the north." We can hardly expect archivists to know whether they are using WGS84 or OSGB36 (which the OS use) or something else. But this seems to mean that if you put Lat: 54.428736 Long: -2.961333 it could in theory refer to a slightly different point depending on the system you are using. There is not a universally agreed and implemented system. Would it be terribly bad for us to assume WGS84? Should we just avoid adding anything about the system used? WGS84 is what is used by GIS systems apparently, so I assume online lookups such as http://www.latlong.net/ use it, but archivists may well refer to OS maps for their lat/long. cheers, Jane Jane Stevenson The Archives Hub T 0161 275 6055 W archiveshub.ac.uk Skype janestevenson Twitter @archiveshub, @janestevenson J Floor, Sackville Street Building, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB jisc.ac.uk Jisc is a registered charity (number 1149740) and a company limited by guarantee which is registered in England under Company No. 5747339, Jisc's registered office is: One Castlepark, Tower Hill, Bristol, BS2 0JA. T 0203 697 5800 Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra Securing the future... - Improving services - Enhancing quality of life - Making best use of public resources. The information in this email is solely for the intended recipients. If you are not an intended recipient, you must not disclose, copy, or distribute its contents or use them in any way: please advise the sender immediately and delete this email. Perth & Kinross Council, Live Active Leisure Limited and TACTRAN do not warrant that this email or any attachments are virus-free and does not accept any liability for any loss or damage resulting from any virus infection. Perth & Kinross Council may monitor or examine any emails received by its email system. The information contained in this email may not be the views of Perth & Kinross Council, Live Active Leisure Limited or TACTRAN. It is possible for email to be falsified and the sender cannot be held responsible for the integrity of the information contained in it. Requests to Perth & Kinross Council under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act should be directed to the Freedom of Information Team - email: [log in to unmask] General enquiries to Perth & Kinross Council should be made to [log in to unmask] or 01738 475000. General enquiries to Live Active Leisure Limited should be made to [log in to unmask] or 01738 454600. General enquiries to TACTRAN should be made to [log in to unmask] or 01738 475775. Securing the future... - Improving services - Enhancing quality of life - Making best use of public resources. Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra