<HTML><HEAD> <STYLE type=text/css></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY dir=ltr> <DIV dir=ltr> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <DIV>I use historic maps in nearly every project.  But these historic maps do not have latitude/longitude on them usually.  I also use land records in nearly every project, which allows me to place the land on the maps (at least in a general sense).  My point is that discovering the general location (especially when dealing with a 200-acre farm) is an important step, but pinpointing the exact longitude/latitude seems like an extraneous step that does not add anything to the research.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I look at it this way – location of a piece of land is important for the following reasons:</DIV> <DIV>- records jurisdiction</DIV> <DIV>- relation to topographical landmarks</DIV> <DIV>- distance to county courthouses</DIV> <DIV>- distance to nearest town</DIV> <DIV>- location of nearest church</DIV> <DIV>- identities of neighbors</DIV> <DIV>- identifying possible migration routes (through relation to bodies of water, historic trails, etc)</DIV> <DIV>- (and of course other more creative uses I am sure)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">All of these tasks, however, can be completed using historic records and historic maps, including identifying topographical landmarks, etc.  But how does taking the extra time and effort to pinpoint a precise latitude/longitude provide additional USEFUL information, not covered by the historic records/maps?</DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><BR><BR>Michael Hait<BR>michael.hait@hotmail.com<BR>http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com</DIV> <DIV style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5"> <DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=laboswell@rogers.com href="mailto:laboswell@rogers.com">L. Boswell</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 01, 2010 12:50 PM</DIV> <DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=michael.hait@hotmail.com href="mailto:michael.hait@hotmail.com">Michael Hait</A> ; <A title=apgpubliclist@apgen.org href="mailto:apgpubliclist@apgen.org">apgpubliclist@apgen.org</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Subject:</B> mapping and research</DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">sorry, forgot to change the subject in that last one. <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></DIV></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Good point John, and GPS coordinates mean much the same thing (I just like to remind people that this isn't based on something new!)</DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Michael, got to thinking here.  How important is mapping and the use of maps to you in your research?   I barely move without referring to a map when I working on a file.   More likely multiple maps.  If your answer is "pretty important" than the use of coordinates is simply going to be a good tool to have on hand.  If you never work with maps, then I can see your point.  But I don't see how I could do effective research without referencing things to a location on a map of some sort</DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Larry</DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: fixed"></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>