<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18975"></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial> <DIV>Larry wrrote:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>>I'd like to explore options for rationalizing the use of coordinates in <BR>conjunction with the use of place names.  Seems to me a few simple <BR>guidelines would allow someone to tell when coordinates were representative <BR>of  the whole township and when they referred to a specific, (almost) exact <BR>location within the township.<BR><BR>>then it wouldn't matter whether historical names or modern names were used <BR>as they would all be available by referencing the coordinates they share.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>It seems to me this can be easily accomplished by cutting back the decimal places in the geographic coordinates until they are general enough to encompass the entire village, town, county or whatever other area is is being referenced.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Data results should never be reported with more precision than the least precise input justifies. I vividlyremember an undergraduate college professor who would shout "You lie!" when an aspiring engineering student proudly announced a problem solution to four decimal places, derived using five-place log tables, when one of the input measure had only three significant figures.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Pi may be 3.14159, but the circumference of a 12.0-inch circle is at best only 37.7 inches--not the 37.69908 inches a calculator may show.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Donn Devine</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>