Latitudes & Longtitudes

[Bakkerbaard]

I need to learn about latitudes and longtitudes. More specifically, in relation to MechJeb.

I understand the very bare bone basics of it: An amount of degrees by an a number of feet and inches on what I assume to be an X and Y axis. While more knowledge on this is welcome, that's something I could wiki during a lunchbreak. What I would like to know is what I adjust to make MechJeb land in close proximity to another vessel on the surface (of the Mün, in particular situation).

The vessel that's already there is at 5º38'7" (S 10m) by 134º19'59" (W 10m). MechJeb seems to keep a safe distance and lands about 100m away from the vessel, which I appreciate, but this time I'm planning to connect the two vessels and aside from that I don't want a bunch of pods spread out all over the place. Suppose I want to land 10 feet to a side of the first vessel, what number would I change in the aforementioned coordinates? I thought it would be the foot-number, but with MechJeb's safety zone I can't be sure.

Alternatively, how can I more accurately pinpoint a landing target? Right now my only options are Easy Vessel Switcher or MechJeb's own target picker, which means either settling for what EVS gives me, or eyeballing it from several kilometers up in Map View where a pixel's worth of shift is about 300 meters, if I'm lucky.

[bewing]

1 hour ago, Bakkerbaard said:

An amount of degrees by an a number of feet and inches on what I assume to be an X and Y axis. While more knowledge on this is welcome

Not quite. Latitude is measured from the Equator, of course -- North and South. North is positive. Longitude is measured from the Prime Meridian, which (in Kerbin's case) is about a third of the way around the planet East from KSC. East is positive.

The numbers, however, are measured in Degrees, Minutes (a 60th of a degree), and Seconds (a 60th of a minute). So -- not feet and inches. 5 degrees, 38 minutes, 7 seconds South from the Equator, in your example.

One second of arc is about 10 meters on Kerbin, IIRC. So 5º38'8" S should be about 10 meters south of your current ship. You might be able to use fractional seconds.

But I can't tell you anything about Mechjeb.

Edited June 15, 2018 by bewing

[Bakkerbaard]

4 minutes ago, bewing said:

Degrees, Minutes (a 60th of a degree), and Seconds (a 60th of a minute)

Now that you mention it, I know this. Or at least, I did know this up until the point I was trying to figure out a distance from a certain point. So, like, about an hour ago I knew that...

9 minutes ago, bewing said:

One second of arc is about 10 meters on Kerbin, IIRC. So 5º38'8" S should be about 10 meters south of your current ship.

Though misguided, I did guess the last one was the number that I needed to fiddle with. It seems though that MechJeb is the cause of the randomness here anyway, so accurate knowledge wouldn't have helped me in the first place. I'll try again next landing, as I've improvised onward for now.

[Gargamel]

5 hours ago, Bakkerbaard said:

MechJeb seems to keep a safe distance and lands about 100m away from the vessel, which I appreciate,

If you happen to pay attention to the "distance from target" readout, you'll notice the value you see is the same "safe distance" you refer too.   This "safe distance" is not intentional.  It is the distance by how much MJ missed the target.   It was trying to hit your ship, but missed.   It tries to hit the target starting with the de-orbit burn, but little errors add up.  Eventually it usually lands within a very short walking distance of your target.  It's pretty much like throwing at the center bullseye on a dart board.   It'll hit the bigger bullseye most of the time, but occasional will hit a double bull.    Which, in this case, is a baaad thing.    

After selecting your target, you'll notice the lat/lon has little arrows beside them, with a distance in meters indicated.  Each click of those buttons offsets your landing target that many meters in the selected direction.    It's usually a good idea to set the target a click or so away from the targeted vessel, ya know, just in case MJ scores a bulls eye this time. 

5 hours ago, Bakkerbaard said:

but this time I'm planning to connect the two vessels and aside from that I don't want a bunch of pods spread out all over the place.

Not doable (IME) solely with MJ.    Make a utility rover with a crane or some sort of payload ability, and connect the modules that way.   There's quite a few tutorials on this topic in the sub forum.  I'm really bad at it. 

[Bakkerbaard]

16 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Not doable (IME) solely with MJ. 

I was afraid someone would say that.

16 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Make a utility rover with a crane or some sort of payload ability, and connect the modules that way.

I was also afraid someone would say this.

16 hours ago, Gargamel said:

I'm really bad at it. 

Because of this reason.

I've managed to avoid cranes and the like up until this point, but I guess I'll have to go and study.

 

Edit: If you're into irony at all. I just sent a wheeled base extension up and it took out a 1x6 solar panel of the first vessel in the landing.

Edited June 16, 2018 by Bakkerbaard