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Qwoin
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Joined: Jul 31, 2006
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 Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:45 pm Post subject: British OS Grid References |
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I am sure this must have been asked but I cant find the answer. I want to be able to navigate to an OS grid reference such as SK 12345 67890. Is anyone aware of hardware that has this option please?
Thanks for any help |
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mikealder
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Joined: Jan 14, 2005
Posts: 19638
Location: Blackpool , Lancs
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| Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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| The Garmin Nuvi devices certainly offer this facility, the TomTom device can only navigate to a lat/ Long - Mike |
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philpugh
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Location: Antrobus, Cheshire
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| Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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That reminds me... I was playing with my nuvi 660 the other day and on the GPS status screen had OSGB references displayed. There is a 'bug' in the display. It has my home location as SI eeeee nnnnn SI doesn't exist as a grid ref - it should be SJ - I will drop a note to their support people. It could - of course - be a problem with the font they use - but it looks like a capital "I" to me ( sans serif).
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Skippy
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Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12
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Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| philpugh wrote: | | It has my home location as SI eeeee nnnnn SI doesn't exist as a grid ref - it should be SJ - I will drop a note to their support people. It could - of course - be a problem with the font they use - but it looks like a capital "I" to me ( sans serif). |
I looked at the readout on my Quest and the J does look somewhat like an I but looking at it closely, it is indeed a J.
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G300PBV
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Joined: Oct 09, 2007
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Location: Wigan, UK
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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On a slightly related note, how do I enter Grid References in a Nuvi?
I have seen many Grid References, such as GR 096037, but cannot figure out how to enter them. The Co-Ordinates option from the Where To menu doesn't accept References in the 6 digit format. |
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Skippy
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Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| G300PBV wrote: | | I have seen many Grid References, such as GR 096037, but cannot figure out how to enter them. |
From Wikipedia: "A location can be indicated to varying resolutions numerically, usually from two digits in each coordinate (for a 1 km square) through to five (for a 1 m square); in each case the first half of the digits is for the first coordinate and the second half for the other. "
The grid reference GR 096037 is a 100x100 meter square. The GPS is much more accurate than that so it uses 5 digits for each coordinate.
In your case, GR 096 037 should be expanded GR 09600 03700 which is the same location but with extra digits specifying the location to the nearest meter, not 100 meters. 
You may find that locations are displayed in a slightly confusing form:
GR 09600
BNG 03700
Where GR are the grid letters, BNG means "British National Grid" and 09600 and 03700 are the Easting and Northing.
Hope that makes sense!
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Skippy
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Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, and  to the forum too!
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G300PBV
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Location: Wigan, UK
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: | | Oh, and to the forum too! |
Thanks for the reply..and the welcome 
The explanation does makes sense, however the only part that is missing to allow me to input BNG format is the two letter code at the beginning.
So if something refers to a location of GR 096037, I can split and pad out the number with zeroes as you suggested but because I don't know the two letter code the Nuvi won't allow me to continue.
Is it simply a duff way of trying to input a location? |
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kartracer
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Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:18 am Post subject: |
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Without the 2 letter code then the rest of the reference is useless. It would be something like having address information of "The High Street", without knowing the town that the street is in!
Incidentally there is no GR square in the British National Grid. For more details see: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gi/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html
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ephoras
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Location: East Yorkshire, UK
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:38 am Post subject: |
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Just a thought, but if you use TomTom 5 or 6 on a PDA, then you can use barryd's wonderful little program (OSGPS) which converts OS References to a Point of Interest. In addition there is the PocketPC Excel program from Getoffandwalk which will convert a 1:50000 Landranger Map Reference to an OS Reference. Both these programs are somewhere in PocketGPSWorld.
These programs allow me to marshal on car rallies throughout the UK extremely accurately. |
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G300PBV
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Joined: Oct 09, 2007
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Location: Wigan, UK
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:41 am Post subject: |
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| kartracer wrote: | Without the 2 letter code then the rest of the reference is useless. It would be something like having address information of "The High Street", without knowing the town that the street is in!
Incidentally there is no GR square in the British National Grid. For more details see: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gi/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html |
Yeah, I guessed that GR stood for Grid Reference. I was sat in the car reading some leaflets on circular walks in the Lake District. Their start points included the GR numbers and I thought it would be neat and easy to simply enter that into my Nuvi.
No such luck it seems.
Thanks to all the folks who replied. |
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philpugh
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:01 am Post subject: |
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Have a look here for a map that will give you the two letter grid reference you need. You should be able to work it out knowing roughly where the walk starts - but it's naughty of the walk advertisers not to give the two letters.
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philpugh
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:11 am Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: |
I looked at the readout on my Quest and the J does look somewhat like an I but looking at it closely, it is indeed a J. |
I re-examined the letter - it is definately an "I" (sans-serif) there is no hint of a curve or anything else at the lower end. I have logged a fault with GARMIN.
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Skippy
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Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12
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Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:17 am Post subject: |
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| kartracer wrote: | | Incidentally there is no GR square in the British National Grid. |
Ooops! Sorry for the confusion! 
| G300PBV wrote: | | Yeah, I guessed that GR stood for Grid Reference. I was sat in the car reading some leaflets on circular walks in the Lake District. Their start points included the GR numbers and I thought it would be neat and easy to simply enter that into my Nuvi. No such luck it seems. |
Ahh, they are presuming that you know the grid reference letters!  South of Windermere is SD and North of Windermere is NY.
If you are near the start of the walk, then have a look at your location on the Nuvi then it will tell you the grid reference letters of your current location and then you just need to pad the numbers out and enter them!
Alternatively, do a Google and you will probably find some ready made POIs for walks that you can download to the Nuvi.
What I like to do is mark the starting point when I go out for a walk so I can see how far I've gone and how far it is to get back to the car! Very handy if the weather starts turning bad or you get tired. Also useful for finding your car in the long stay car park at the airport after a holiday! 
Good luck!
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G300PBV
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Joined: Oct 09, 2007
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Location: Wigan, UK
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:54 am Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: | | kartracer wrote: | | Incidentally there is no GR square in the British National Grid. |
Ahh, they are presuming that you know the grid reference letters! South of Windermere is SD and North of Windermere is NY.
Good luck! |
An excellent point, thank you |
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