Just got back from a competition in Portugal. Ran into some problems with the on board nav computer. The digital maps we were using were in Lat and Long but the roadbooks were in UTM so basically we were stuck using paper maps and stopping every now and then to plot our position on it from the GPS. We lost quite a bit of time compared to the system that we have set up that has the computer tied directly to the GPS to show real time position on the digital map.

Anyone got any ideas on how to convert lat/long coords to UTM coords?

What specific equipment are you using? I understand getting the parameters backwards but I have never used a unit that didn't support both UTM and LatLon.

These systems are really easy so your solution shouldn't be too big of a deal.

what software are you using?

Couple ideas having used GPS and tracking software myself...

If you set the GPS to use UTM, did it at least show your position on the map in the proper place?

Did you check to see if your software had the option of showing UTM?

Any good mapping software or GPS will do it for you.

My Garmin GPS instantly converts between dozens of different co-ordinate systems, as does the mapping software I use (Touratech)

If your onboard system won't support this, perhaps carry a second gps. punch in all the waypoints in whatever they come as, utm for example, then just switch the co-ord system of the gps to whatever you need, say lat/long (be sure to select a datum that matches your map, WGS84 if you're not sure) and it will automtiaclly convert and display them all

I'm using Memory Map on the computer and I think that kinda compounded the problem. It runs on WGS84 although you can specify different datums but you need to know all the variances from WGS84 which of course I don't.

Our first problem was getting MM to accept the digital map. I wasn't actually able to calibrate the map as MM used WGS84 datum with lat/long position format. The digital map I was using was European 1979 datum with lat/long format. The other problem was that the digi map was a tiff file that imported all the nav calibrations in via another file instead of being like a geotiff where all the nav info is in the same file. The GPS was set for European 1979 datum with UTM position format. In the end I gave up on it and just used the paper maps. Sitting here at home with all the stuff set up and the GPS running in simulator mode, I still can't get it to work.

So there I was stuck out in portugal with no usable computer nav and I figure no probs, I'll just use OziExplorer and everything will be ok...friggen sucked because you can't open tiff files in Ozi and I didn't have a photo editing proggy on the laptop.....

Originally posted by SniperFire
I'll just use OziExplorer and everything will be ok...friggen sucked because you can't open tiff files in Ozi and I didn't have a photo editing proggy on the laptop.....

DING! DING! DING!

We have a winner!

It sucks being stuck like that but now that you know you will always have your maps converted early.

You'll be getting a PM from me. ;)

Yeppers...we rushed into the event with a vehicle that wasn't even tested. We finished wrenching on it, loaded it on the trailer and took off for the ferry. I didn't bother with the maps because I've had such good success with British digi maps working on it. When my buddy said the maps were good to go I thought he meant good to go on the laptop and with our GPS but turned out that he meant that the map was of the correct part of Portugal.

Got on the ferry and tried to load up everything and found out that it wouldn't then the "oh chit" feeling set in...kinda like the "oh chit" feeling I got when I turned on the TerraTrip an hour before a special section and nothing happened.

But yeah, I'm babbling, I should have had everything ready, hence the reason why I'm working on this now...