I agree with Andy that it doesn't much matter because it's easy to convert
(which is why we're not specifying which form it's in). If we need to
standardize on one, I would vote for decimal degrees, since we expect to
be using the data in GIS systems (or so I suspect).
Rebecca
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^ Rebecca S. Guenther ^^
^^ Senior Networking and Standards Specialist ^^
^^ Network Development and MARC Standards Office ^^
^^ 1st and Independence Ave. SE ^^
^^ Library of Congress ^^
^^ Washington, DC 20540-4402 ^^
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^^ ^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On Fri, 30 Jun 2006, Houghton,Andrew wrote:
> > From: Subject Coordinates Discussion List
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Colleen R. Cahill
> > Sent: 30 June, 2006 07:15
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [SUBCOOR] The proposal passed MARBI!
> >
> > We now face some choices, primarly in what format we want the
> > coordinates to appear in authority records. This can be
> > either degrees, minutes, seconds or decimal degrees: both
> > have advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few I have
> > thought of and am hoping for your input:
> >
> > Degrees, minutes, seconds format
> > Pro:
> > -Format most often printed on maps
> > -Familiar to most people
> > -Easy to quality review
> > -Format most often used in bib records
> >
> > Con:
> > -Not format used by GIS search engines
> >
> > Decimal Degrees
> > Pro:
> > -Format used by GIS search engines
> > -Can harvest data from GIS tools
> >
> > Con:
> > -Not as easy to quality review
> > -Not as familiar a format to the average person
>
> Handheld GPS devices can output either format and output from
> the GPS device may be used to create local authority records.
> In addition, the conversion between decimal degrees and DMS
> is trivial. If the catalog uses decimal degrees, it can be
> easily converted to DMS for user friendly displays. This
> point negates Con(2) under Decimal Degrees.
>
> I'm not throwing my two cents either way, just providing a
> few additional thoughts. So long as the data is in its own
> subfield and it doesn't need to be parsed out of other textual
> data, then either format can be used effectively.
>
>
> Andy.
>
