Re: GPS to grid reference

The message <5h67jdF3imrrdU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
from Peter Clinch <p.j.clinch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> contains these words:

Which in practice is part way to how any newcomer to the system would
proceed if they were not in possession of the big secret.

What's secret here? People manage to get useful stuff out of GRs
whichever assumption they use, quite interchangeably. That is a good
indication that it's Not A Problem.

The secret is what they actually mean by Grid Reference. A secret you
apparently weren't in on and now suggest doesn't matter. If the OS want
users to accept their way of doing things rather than the natural way
they should make what they mean clear, not rely on the 'it really
doesn't matter' gambit.

You may think that, but that is not actually the case. The natural
meaning of "Estimate tenths Eastward ..." is to make the most accurate
guess at the actual distance, not to stop at the invisible grid lines
just prior to the point.

In practice you make an estimate in the ballpark, and the natural
processing of the user does the rest. And it works the same way
/whichever assumption you use/ as to how they work. In other words,
actual usage is sufficiently fuzzy that the exact theory behind isn't
actually a Big Issue.

There are 2 issues at stake. The first is the commonsense one that you
don't expect to be deliberately misinformed by purveyors of facts. The
second is that when you are aiming at something approximate you are
better off if your target is at the middle of the expected range, not
the extreme end.

--
Roger Chapman
Nearest Marilyn still to be visited - Great Orme.
89 miles as the crow flies,
considerably more as the walker drives.
.

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