As a "pro" for decimal degrees, I would add that the momentum seems to be toward this format. I was only vaguely aware of decimal degrees 10 years ago, but now it's increasingly common. Will it eventually supplant DMS, even on paper maps?

Philip Hoehn, Map Librarian San Francisco -- [log in to unmask] ----------------------------------- Contractor for David Rumsey Collection: http://www.davidrumsey.com

-- "Colleen R. Cahill" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: The proposal to add coordinates to authority records

<http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/2006/2006-06.html> passed and in the next year or so, this will be available in the MARC format for authorities. Thanks to all who worked on this, especially Jimmie Lundgren of the University of Florida and Rebecca Guenther of the Library

of Congress, who put a great deal of effort in forming this proposal. Good job!

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

The reason we need to have this discussion is LC will allow coordinates in the authority file, but only in one format. By presenting

well-thought-out reasons for a desired format, we can persuade LC to use the most logical choice. This is also a good time to think about any standards or recommendations, such as what is acceptable data (i.e., is just degrees enough data? How many numbers after the decimal in decimal degrees?)

I am sure there are many more pros and cons to each of these formats. If the cartographic community can come to a consensus about this topic, it would speed the next step to this process, setting up a test to load coordinates in the authority files. To facilitate this process, I will keep track of the discussion and post compilations. Thank you for your help.

Colleen Colleen R. Cahill | [log in to unmask] Digital Production Coordinator | (202)707-8540 & Recommending Officer for | FAX (202)707-8531 Science Fiction & Fantasy | Library of Congress