Has anyone taken their GPS to Greenwich?

[rogerzilla]

Mine was claiming 13ft accuracy but was at least 25 feet off the prime meridian.   

[Chris S]

Mine was claiming 13ft accuracy but was at least 25 feet off the prime meridian.   

Get a life! 

 

[Jurek]

Mine was claiming 13ft accuracy but was at least 25 feet off the prime meridian.   

I pass very close to the meridian at least twice daily, during which time I suffer dizzy spells.

Is this anything to do with you? 

[rogerzilla]

There's an urban legend that one type of car satnav - may have been Garmin - had a software bug which only manifested itself when moving from the E to the W hemisphere, and vice-versa.  This wasn't picked up in extensive product testing, but when it got to the market almost everyone in London who bought one sent it back 

[Charlotte]

If you cross the meridian E-W very slowly, turn your Garmin off, cross back, turn it on and then cross E-W again, this time very fast, it displays a nekkie picture of Paris Hilton.

100% TRUFAX.

[Chris S]

If you cross the meridian E-W very slowly, turn your Garmin off, cross back, turn it on and then cross E-W again, this time very fast, it displays a nekkie picture of Paris Hilton.

Wow - thanks for the warning! Yewww....

[rogerzilla]

If you cross the meridian E-W very slowly, turn your Garmin off, cross back, turn it on and then cross E-W again, this time very fast, it displays a nekkie picture of Paris Hilton.

100% TRUFAX.

/makes mental note to try this on the A14 next week

[Jurek]

If you cross the meridian E-W very slowly, turn your Garmin off, cross back, turn it on and then cross E-W again, this time very fast, it displays a nekkie picture of Paris Hilton.

100% TRUFAX.

*Goes out Meridian cruisin'  in search of another wit Garmin*  

[simonp]

If you cross the meridian E-W very slowly, turn your Garmin off, cross back, turn it on and then cross E-W again, this time very fast, it displays a nekkie picture of Paris Hilton.

100% TRUFAX.

LIES!

It was Hummers!

[Greenbank]

That's W-E crossing.

Ewwww.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

More urban legends - the F14 fighter has a fly-by-wire navigation system. an early flgith model flipped upside down when it passed the equator. Utter twaddle I'm afraid - but a good story!

[Craig]

Mine was claiming 13ft accuracy but was at least 25 feet off the prime meridian.   

Are you using the correct datum? The Greenwich Meridian is about 100m different in longitude from WGS84, which most GPS devices use as standard.
Wikipedia has more details, including a photo of a GPS above the Meridian showing it doesn't read zero: Prime Meridian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[rogerzilla]

Ah.  I set mine to the OS datum, which apparently is 6m to the west.  That would explain it.

[Bledlow]

More urban legends - the F14 fighter has a fly-by-wire navigation system. an early flgith model flipped upside down when it passed the equator. Utter twaddle I'm afraid - but a good story!

But the F-22 navigation system failing when it flew across 180W is true. A flight of F-22s heading west to Okinawa in 2007 all suffered the same problem, had to rely on their supporting tankers for navigation. They turned back to Hawaii. The bug was fixed quickly, & they tried again - successfully.

[thing1]

Mine was claiming 13ft accuracy but was at least 25 feet off the prime meridian.   

Are you using the correct datum? The Greenwich Meridian is about 100m different in longitude from WGS84, which most GPS devices use as standard.
Wikipedia has more details, including a photo of a GPS above the Meridian showing it doesn't read zero: Prime Meridian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is as a popular question regarding Google Earth too. "Even" el reg was caught out by this.