[APG Public List] [APG Members] place names

[Stephen Danko]

One thing to realize about the coordinates that can be obtained from 
either Google Maps or a GPS device is that the numbers refer to degrees latitude 
and longitude.  Unless mathematicians decide to change the number of degrees in 
a circle or cartographers decide to change the location of the equator or the 
prime meridian, the actual latitude and longitude of a place won't change even 
when GPS technology changes.  Furthermore, these coordinates can be used to find 
locations on both electronic maps and paper maps (such as US Topo Maps) 
that display the latitude and longitude.

Kind regards,
Stephen J. Danko
http://www.stephendanko.com/


________________________________
From: Mark Rabideau <genealogy at eirenicon.org>
To: Janice Sellers <janicemsj at gmail.com>
Cc: apgpubliclist Posting <apgpubliclist at apgen.org>; jhrabideau at gmail.com; 
apgmembersonlylist at apgen.org; becky at pep-inc.com
Sent: Wed, October 27, 2010 9:24:18 AM
Subject: Re: [APG Members] [APG Public List] place names

It is probably worth noting that commerical GPS is really only about 10 years 
old and is primarily a US national system for establishing global location. To 
quote the ever popular WIkipedia "GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. 
Government as a national resource."   As new GPS systems develop, there is 
likely to be change in nomenclature and other characteristics, as competing & 
complimentary global positioning systems reconcile and move towards 
international standards (at least that is how everything else seems to work in 
the technology realm).  It is worth noting that there are at least two competing 
and one non-competing GPS system online or soon to be online- competing systems 
will be from the Chinese (Compass) and Europe Galileo (Europe); the 
non-competing system is a Russian military system.

To me the biggest benefit of the current US GPS is that it makes the use of 
Google Earth and the like for genealogy software packages possible.  But to my 
mind, maps continue to be a more stable and reliable long-term form of 
locational documentation for genealogical purposes. 
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