Latitude/Longitude/Heading - Discussion
When we "start" at a dock or a remote locations, sometimes the "position" of the aircraft is critical so you don't start with a pontoon on the dock, etc. To make your start position literally perfect, we use latitude and longitude inputs with 4 digit accuracy instead of the default 2 digit accuracy. Also the "heading" positions the aircraft in the right "alignment."
To "place" your aircraft in the exact position at a remote dock, you use the MAP feature in the sim. On our scenery page and on the startup page, the "start location" is given, mostly using the 4 digit accuracy. Once you know the lat/long/heading, you put those into the "MAP" tables. Be sure to set you altitude at ZERO and your speed at ZERO. Once you add these and "ENTER" you will be positioned exactly where you need to be at the remote position. You do not need to make any changes in your sim to make this happen. Just copy the 4 digit accuracy position into the MAP fields and it will work.
NOTAM: For scenery development, if you want to force your simulator to read out with 4 digit accuracy, this is how you do it: (I use CTRL-F to "find" "MAIN")
4 Digit Accuracy ...
The sims are basically set up for 2 digit accuracy. It is "ok" for land, but not so good for starting water positioning (as most of our are). If you want to set your sim to always read out in 4 digit accuracy, here is what you do. Look in your simulator's config "cfg" file (found under users/"computer name"/Apps/Roaming/Simulator Name/). (P3D is Prepar3D.cfg) Open the cfg file and search for [MAIN] and make this change:
[Main]
FractionalLatLonDigits=4 <- add this line under [MAIN]
NOTAM: Housekeeping on cfg changes. It is always a good idea when you make a change to put in two slash marks // and your initials at the end of an altered line. So this is what it would look like with my initials:
[Main]
FractionalLatLonDigits=4 //jdl
Decimal Latitude Longitude Setup
Some applications need "digital" latitude and longitude. It is a cumbersome (but possible) procedure to use a conversion program to change from standard "digits" (Nxx xx.xxxx) format to decimal. But you can make your sim "switch over" to decimal by doing the following:
Again, go to your simulator's "cfg" file. Look under [MAIN]
If you have FractionalLatLonDigits=4 (or =2) then put two // in front of this and add the following:
//FractionalLatLonDigits=4 <two slash marks ahead of this line
LatLonFormat=Degrees //jdl <- Add your initials
FractionalLatLonDigits=6 /jdl <- Add your initials
Now your sim will give you DECIMAL lat long to 6 digits.
Going back
Returning to the original configuration is easy. Put slash marks in front of the lines you have added and take them off the line you had previously added them to. So it will now look like this:
FractionalLatLonDigits=4 <- Take out slash marks
//LatLonFormat=Degrees //jdl <- Add slash marks to deactivate
//FractionalLatLonDigits=6 /jdl <- add slash marks to deactivate
Now you will be back to 4 digits (or 2 if you want) in "digit" format. But leaving the other two lines in place with the slash marks makes it easy for you to change back in the future if you need it. Also, if you've put in your initials, the next time you want to find any change you have made in the cfg file, just use CTRL-F (find) and enter your initials, it will take you right to the changes you have made.
