Walter Nissen: >> >> Many organizations use East. >> (Summary: Use East longitude). Jay Respler: > >I have not seen other than West Long in any common usage. West longitude >is not only NOT obsolete, it is the only terminolgy being used. > >I have no problem with it being changed though, if the world agrees and >accepts the change. > I agree with Walter (as on practically all points, especially "concensus" - if there is an logical agreement, it should be adhered to) And I disagree with Jay here - practically all programs I've tried use positive East. The exceptions are a few US programs - just Mike's ? - and he does excuse himself for doing so : (fitelem.doc: The longitude is positive for west longitude (the opposite from most programs). The altitude is in feet. ) (elcor.doc: 6. East longitude (negative for west)) (BWGS flash.doc: Please provide your name and address; name of your observing site; east longitude and north latitude of your site, expressed in degrees..) (NPOE.txt:Ground site east longitude (0 degrees <= longitude <= 360 degrees) Ground site altitude (meters; positive above sea level)) (SkySat readme.txt: Line 2 - Site longitude (decimal degrees west). (quicksat.doc: The longitude is positive for WEST longitude, negative for east longitude. Note that this is the opposite from most prediction programs. Height is in feet. ) (skymap.doc: Negative values are entered for south latitudes and west longitudes. ) (seesat.doc: LON <number> [degrees; negative if west] ) (satspy.hlp: Be sure to input your longitude in terms of east longitude. ) (Track16.hlp: Longitudes in the Western Hemisphere must be preceded with a - sign.) (TrakStar sample.obs: CEL Celestial BBS 39.7811 -84.0750 295) (from ILAM (INITIAL LAUNCH ALERT MESSAGE). : (U) LAUNCH AGENCY: 4 SPACE LAUNCH SQUADRON INJECTION LONGITUDE (DEG): 248.68E (stsplus.cty: "Cape Canaveral, FL",-79.458,28.45,5) --------------------------------------------------------------- -- bjorn@tt-tech.se (office) b_gimle@algonet.se (home) -- -- 59.2237N, 18.2286E, 44 m http://www.algonet.se/~b_gimle -- -- SeeSat-L / Visual Satellite Observer Home Page found at -- -- http://www.satellite.eu.org/satintro.html -- ---------------------------------------------------------------