WGS-84 countries?

[Bill]

Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
standards?

Preferably from an "authoritative" source, such as FAA, AOPA, ALPA,
NASA, etc, and not from Cousin Vinnies online website

thanks

BILL

[Tarver Engineering]

"Bill" > wrote in message
m...
> Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
> standards?

WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
range navigation.

[Tarver Engineering]

"Bill" > wrote in message
m...
> "Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
>...
> > "Bill" > wrote in message
> > m...
> > > Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
> > > standards?
> >
> > WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
> > range navigation.
>
> Good job Tarver, now how about that website

I use the RTCA document.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (Bill) said:
>"Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
>...
>> "Bill" > wrote in message
>> m...
>> > Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
>> > standards?
>> WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
>> range navigation.
>
>Good job Tarver, now how about that website

How does a country "meet" a standard which is nothing but a mathematical
model that describes the configuration of the earth? Do you give them bad
marks if their not sufficiently spheroidal or something?


--
Paul Tomblin >, not speaking for anybody
"Whoah, whoah! A fat sarcastic Star Trek fan? You must be a devil with the
ladies!" - Simpsons

[[email protected]]

Tarver Engineering wrote:

> "Bill" > wrote in message
> m...
> > "Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
> >...
> > > "Bill" > wrote in message
> > > m...
> > > > Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
> > > > standards?
> > >
> > > WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
> > > range navigation.
> >
> > Good job Tarver, now how about that website
>
> I use the RTCA document.

You really can be both obtuse and difficult. WGS-84 compliance by country is a
very practical concern for someone actually involved in flight operations,
which you've made quite clear you're not.

[Gerry Caron]

"Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> You are going to have to help me out on how a Country is compliant with a
> trig equation.
>
> John P. Tarver, MS/PE

It's not "just" a trig equation. WGS-84 stands for World Geodetic Survey -
1984. That "trig equation" as you call it is actually the reference datum
for surveys and is only a small part of the WGS-84 standard. It applies to
any survey data, not just aviation data.

A survey is a legal document and to be legal it must be made in reference to
a legally recognized datum. Before WGS-84, most US surveys were done to
various versions of the North American Datum, abbreviated NAD-yy, yy
indicating the year. The last one before WGS-84 was NAD-79. In England,
the surveys are based on the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain or OSGB datum.
LAT/LON of a location surveyed against one datum can be quite a bit
different when surveyed against a different datum. So ICAO requires member
states to provide their aeronautical survey data referenced to WGS-84, or at
least provide for the transformation of the data from another datum to
WGS-84.

BTW, my handheld Garmin GPS supports 30 or 40 different datum from around
the world. The datum is selectable in the setup menu.

So a more exact question would be, "Which countries have accepted WGS-84 as
a legal datum and provide their survey data referenced to WGS-84?"

To get the answer, you would have to search through the ICAO agreements.
Start at www.icao.org

If you're interested in understanding WGS-84 and datum transformations,
start at www.nima.mil

[Teacherjh]

>>
How does a country "meet" a standard which is nothing but a mathematical
model that describes the configuration of the earth?
<<

Kind of like passing a law saying that the North Pole is located in Hawaii. Do
that and all but two of the lat long figures have to change, and become
"incompatible" with countries which have not adopted this new learning.

Actually, we do this all the time. For some people, the North Pole is located
in northern Canada. At the same time, for other people, it's located somewhere
under the Arctic Circle. And the funny thing is, some people subscribe to both
world views simultaneously. Very odd, but that magnetic thing in the window is
more useful that way.

Jose



(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

[[email protected]]

Tarver Engineering wrote:

>
> You are going to have to help me out on how a Country is compliant with a
> trig equation.
>
> John P. Tarver, MS/PE

Maybe you can get some of those folks you hang around with at RTCA, Honeywell,
FAA, et al, to help you out.

[Tarver Engineering]

> wrote in message ...
>
>
> Tarver Engineering wrote:
>
> >
> > You are going to have to help me out on how a Country is compliant with
a
> > trig equation.

> Maybe you can get some of those folks you hang around with at RTCA,
Honeywell,
> FAA, et al, to help you out.

They all use WGS-84.

[Tarver Engineering]

"Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Bill" > wrote in message
> m...
> > Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
> > standards?
>
> WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
> range navigation.

Upon searching a bit, the best I can find, is that even ICAO doesn't know.
I did find an ICAO form from mid-2002, requesting Countries report their
complaince status and a couple of articles worrying about African and
Caribbean compliance.

John P. Tarver, MS/PE

[Ron Natalie]

"Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message ...
>
> "Bill" > wrote in message
> m...
> > Where online can I find a list of countries meeting the WGS-84 GPS
> > standards?
>
> WGS-84 is not a GPS standard, but the Earth model for great circle long
> range navigation.

It's not that either. It's a mathematical formula for approximating the shape of
the world. GPS and many maps use it.

[Tarver Engineering]

"Ron Natalie" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "Tarver Engineering" > wrote in message
...
>
> > You might want to see the long range Nav RTCA document. In fact, the
> > equation is the one used in the FMS and is certainly exactly as I wrote.
>
> RTCA does not define WGS-84.

What RTCA does is apply WGS-84. It is for that reason that some automation
does not operate properly in Countries not using the WGS-84 Earth model.

> They may reference or use it in their
> standard, but that doesn't really have anything to do with the original
question.

It is the reason for the question, Ron.

> While use of the WGS-84 ellipsoid parameters would be handy for computing
> great circle numbers, your statement as a whole is nonsense.

Thing before you post, Ron.

John P. Tarver, MS/PE