The Old Coordinate Collector is still at it, accumulating GPS (Global Posistioning System) latitudes and longitudes for various places of note as he visits them.
On the afternoon of 20 June 2002 at one of the holiest of holies, the finish line of the Boston Marathon, ^z took four readings during a period of hours and attempted to average them. The measurements fluctuated by several seconds of arc, perhaps due to multipath and reflections from nearby skyscrapers. His best estimate for that much-revered site:
| Lat. | Long. |
| 42:21:00 N | 71:04:41 W |
Closer to home, a few months ago Son RadRob and ^z drove along the first third of the "Marathon in the Parks" route (to be run next on 17 Nov 2002; see http://www.marathonintheparks.com ). Their findings:
| Mile | Lat. | Long. |
| 0 | 39:06:59 | 77:09:57 |
| 1 | 39:07:32 | 77:09:55 |
| 2 | 39:08:06 | 77:09:22 |
| 3 | 39:08:51 | 77:08:55 |
| 4 | 39:08:10 | 77:08:43 |
| 5 | 39:07:28 | 77:09:14 |
| 6 | 39:07:17 | 77:08:26 |
| 7 | 39:07:38 | 77:07:36 |
| 8 | 39:06:55 | 77:07:36 |
| 9 | 39:07:04 | 77:06:57 |
(see also CoordinateCollection (15 May 2002) for data taken on foot for mile markers 10 through 26.2 of the MitP)
Finally, with distance running comrades CR and SA, ^z undertook a couple of training jogs along the "Washington and Old Dominion" (W&OD) trail in northern Virginia. On 8 Sep the trio did ~15 miles from CR's home out to milepost 18.5 and then returned to consume an extreme breakfast (^z had 6 eggs) and quaff countless cups of coffee. (A blood test the following day found all parameters within normal ranges except for one anomalous but unimportant liver enzyme.)
On 29 Sep the merry men proceeded in the opposite direction from approximately mile 11.7 to 0 and back. During that jaunt ^z suffered knee pain after ~20 miles and, having developed some slight discretion with age (it being his 50th birthday), walked much of the last hour to avoid further damage.
The net results for his W&OD survey:
| Mile | Lat. | Long. |
| 0 | 38:50:39 | 77:05:08 |
| 1 | 38:51:03 | 77:06:06 |
| 2 | 38:51:49 | 77:06:40 |
| 3 | 38:52:07 | 77:07:45 |
| 4 | 38:52:46 | 77:08:22 |
| 5 | 38:52:57 | 77:09:22 |
| 6 | 38:53:20 | 77:10:05 |
| 7 | 38:53:31 | 77:11:10 |
| 8 | 38:53:25 | 77:12:17 |
| 9 | 38:53:28 | 77:13:16 |
| 10 | 38:53:45 | 77:14:19 |
| 11 | 38:54:04 | 77:15:18 |
| 12 | 38:54:25 | 77:16:12 |
| 13 | 38:55:03 | 77:16:59 |
| 14 | 38:55:44 | 77:17:38 |
| 15 | 38:56:06 | 77:18:36 |
| 16 | 38:56:36 | 77:19:28 |
| 17 | 38:57:05 | 77:20:21 |
| 18 | 38:57:22 | 77:21:20 |
Note that all of these coordinates, respectively North of the Equator and West of Greenwich, are in the standard WGS84 datum. They may include errors of transcription as well as fluctuations caused by suboptimal GPS satellite configurations, local interference, etc., etc. Do not use these data to control nuclear reactors, aircraft, heart pacemakers, or any other life-threatening devices. Your position may vary ....
(see also GlobalPositioningSystemRuns (16 Feb 2002), GettysburgCoordinates (27 Feb 2002), RockCreekTrail (31 May 2002), Boston Public Library (20 Jun 2002), ...)
TopicScience - TopicRunning - TopicPersonalHistory - 2002-10-03
(correlates: CoarseCorrection, CoordinateCollection, FinalExams, ...)