[Marble-devel] Feature request: full metric support

[Dennis P]

Op vrijdag 2 november 2007 02:48, schreef u:

>> I'm curious - where is "here" for you? I hadn't heard of UTM being
>> used by the public anywhere and find it interesting.
>
> I'm guessing Dennis is in the Netherlands

Indeed. Maps for hiking and cycling don't contain coordinates nor does the 
highway map, gov staff maps contain a Dutch metric grid and UTM in the 
border. Lat. and long. is something only for the highly educated who can 
afford flying lessons or North sea sailboats. Even if you would go on a 
nordic walking vacation in the scandinavian countries where you do need a GPS 
to find your way you'd use UTM WSG 84 as they use that on their maps. I guess 
most government metric systems are UTM synced with adjustments to include the 
entire country or province when possible as UTM borders are a bit annoying on 
printed maps where you have to keep an eye on which grid in 40 km overlap you 
should use. Automatic displays like Garmin and Marble fade away such 
confusion making UTM imho ideal for everyday use when you measure distances 
in m and km anyway.