"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "S Narayan"
said:
"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
Actually Adak is at +176.6460306 and Casco Cove is at -173. But even if
Adak was at -176 and Casco Cove was at -173 in my coordinate system (W
is
positive), Casco would still be further west than Adak.

However, no matter how you slice it, if you're at Adak and you want to
get
to Casco Cove, you go west. Look at a globe.
By international convention -ve longitudes apply to west of Greenwich and
+ve longitudes east of Greenwich. OK, let's forget that for the time
being.

I use a different convention.

Taking your example of Adak at -176 and Casco Cove is -173 ---- you
consider

No, Adak is at +176 and Casco Cove is at -173.

Casco WEST of Adak. Using this convention let's take a simple example and

It is. Look at a map.

San Francisco, CA is at -122.4 and Reno, NV is -119.8. Using above

No, San Francisco is at +122.4 and Reno is at +119.

You are entitled to invent your own coordinate system but this is not what
you will find on a coordinate lookup. If anyone can point me any website
that gives these coordinates for SF and Reno, I would appreciate it. I will
try to avoid those websites. In most cases it is obvious what the intent is,
but for this example, it certainly has generated some confusion.


Adak really being at +176 indicates it is further West of Casco Cove which
is at -173. Moving Adak to -176 puts it 8 deg east of the original
location
(but now across the date line) but still west of Casco Cove.

Wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong. Look at a map.


I took your earlier categorical statement of +176 for Adak and -173 for Attu
and applied it in the standard convention. I apologise for not checking the
coordinates from an independent site. All my statements were based on the
coordinates you provided but interpreted in the standard sense. One wouldn't
have to look at a map if the coordinates were specified in standard notation
to know which way is west or east.

I just looked up the coordinates on airnav.com which are -176 (176W) for
Adak and +173 (173E) for Attu. I whole heartedly agree with those who say
Attu is WEST of Adak. I think there are still some dissenters in the
newsgroup.