Knowing your latitude and longitude and still not knowing where you are ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It is still commonly believed that in order to know your position on the earth's surface knowing your latitude and longitude is enough. However, this is wrong! Latitude and longitude always relate to a coordinate system or - more exact - a coordinate reference system (CRS). There are many of these systems - and only when you know the CRS's parameters you really know where you are.

The "whys" and "hows" are explained in the enclosed PDF file. You will need Adobe's Acrobat reader for it, which can be downloaded for free from numerous sites.

The use of the included program is also explained in detail in the PDF. Simply speaking it converts coordinates from some coordinate-reference system to another.

To install, simply unzip the files into a directory of your choice. You only have to make sure that all files are in the same directory. Create a shortcut on your desktop. That's it !


IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTE:

The files datums.txt, ellips.txt and projct.txt are extracted from the EPSG database (www.epsg.org). Neither the EPSG nor the author give any guarantee concerning the accurateness of the values in the database. If you use it you do so entirely at your own risk. I also want to stress that the transformations the program uses are not meant for any professional use. It is meant to support those you create flightsim sceneries. More details can be found in the PDF file.

The program is freeware. The copyright stays with the author. The program may be used freely and may be redistributed, provided all files are kept together unaltered.

Nobody is allowed to add the program to commercial distributions, to make money with the program or to use the program for professional purposes.

The program is provided on an "as is" basis. The author disclaims all warranties, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The user bears all risks as to the quality and performance of the program or any results derived with help of or calculated by the program.

The author will not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidential or consequential damages, including but not limited to any loss of data, loss of profits, or lost savings arising out of the use or inability to use the program or parts of the program. Although the author did a lot of testing, he cannot guarantee the program is error free.

If you find something strange or want to make suggestions, please mail to:

christian.grimsel@t-online.de


Regards

Christian Grimsel