Subject: Re: mdvawv try advancing again too<br/>
Date: Aug 20, 2004 @ 13:56<br/>
Author: Ron McConnell (&quot;Ron McConnell&quot; &lt;rcmcc@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-481545818">&quot;aletheiak&quot; says,<br/>
&quot;the distance between them i have given<br/>
in feet & inches etc. was merely computed by me<br/>
using simple arithmetic ...&quot;<br/>
<br/>
Demonstrating that for very short distances<br/>
fancy great circle and geodesic algorithms<br/>
and computers are usually major overkills.<br/>
Good old arithmetic, plane geometry and algebra work fine,<br/>
with maybe a calculator or slide rule.<br/>
The trig functions should collapse<br/>
to either 0.0 or 1.0 as locations<br/>
get closer and closer.  Most are functions<br/>
of differences in lat1 & lat2 or long1 & long2.<br/>
To knock some of the rust and moss gathered<br/>
on my analytical hand trig skills<br/>
from fiddling with computer arithmetic so long,<br/>
I should try to verify that statement.<br/>
<br/>
&quot;...how to go about stretching our capability<br/>
...any specific pieces of hi tech equipment<br/>
that we could rent or borrow ...&quot;<br/>
    Not being a surveyor, I&#39;m _way_ behind <br/>
on the neat modern gear beyond vague notions<br/>
about differential GPS, laser rangers and the like.<br/>
Maybe some &quot;obsolete&quot; surveying gear<br/>
can be picked up cheaply?<br/>
Anyone know any surveyors?<br/>
EBay?  Everything else is available there.<br/>
[Note: look for a &quot;Surveying for Dummies&quot; book<br/>
or web link]<br/>
<br/>
   A personal anecdote on surveying:<br/>
One my roommates my freshman year was<br/>
in civil engineering and taking surveying.<br/>
He pored his soul into the term project<br/>
of surveying a little corner of land<br/>
next to the electrical engineering building.<br/>
As we walked to class each morning<br/>
he would point out things like<br/>
&quot;that bush is 11.2348 feet from the corner<br/>
of the building.&quot;  He labored over his drawing<br/>
and it was a work of art and love.<br/>
The morning he was taking his report to turn it in,<br/>
there was a bulldozer tearing that corner<br/>
all to heck.<br/>
<br/>
Thanks for the VA-TN-KY Cumberland Gap pointer.<br/>
I have to actually go there one day.<br/>
Maybe when I go down for Mother&#39;s 86th birthday<br/>
in October...  We are going to a music festival<br/>
in Big Stone Gap, not that many miles away.<br/>
<br/>
I&#39;ve added bookmarks at BP for my web site (below)<br/>
and for the navigation tutorial<br/>
at Ed Williams&#39; Aviation Formulary<br/>
 <br/>
  &lt;<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://williams.best.vwh.net/avform.html">http://williams.best.vwh.net/avform.html</a>&gt;<br/>
<br/>
I checked and they work - after fixing one typo.<br/>
I will review my (long) list for any more<br/>
that seem appropriate.<br/>
<br/>
Cheers, 73,<br/>
<br/>
Ron McC.<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:w2iol@...">w2iol@...</a><br/>
<br/>
Ronald C. McConnell, PhD<br/>
<br/>
 WGS-84: N 40º 46&#39; 57.6&quot;  +/-0.1&quot;<br/>
         W 74º 41&#39; 22.1&quot;  +/-0.1&quot;<br/>
         FN20ps.77GU31 +/-<br/>
         V +5058.3438  H +1504.2531<br/>
<br/>
 <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://home.earthlink.net/~rcmcc">http://home.earthlink.net/~rcmcc</a> <br/>
<br/>
   &quot;Clement&#39;s Constant&quot;<br/>
&quot;Just because it&#39;s old technology, <br/>
doesn&#39;t mean that it&#39;s obsolete<br/>
or useless technology!&quot;<br/>
- Hal Clement (a.k.a. G. Harry Stubbs), <br/>
     Science Fiction author, 1996<br/>
 - referring to an astrolabe beating a computer</div>