Latitude/Longitude Overlays

[Nikolai]

It would be nice if there were some way to determine latitude and longitude from the Map View prior to landing or the Tracking Station (or, ideally, both) -- just in case you want to build equidistant bases on Minmus, say, and you don't want to have to drive stuff around.

In the same vein, it would be nice to know what the inclination of your orbit is to the equator of the body whose SOI you are currently within. (Do any of the bodies in the Kerbol system have an axial tilt?)

[Alshain]

Well inclination is on Kerbal Engineer. Latitude could probably be done but since it's a space game and Lat is a surface concept it just hasn't been done yet.

Longitude however is tricky because it's specifically an Earth term by definition. What defines a longitude of 0 degrees (i.e. the Prime Meridian?) Well on Earth it's just an arbitrary accepted definition that once upon a time, presumably after it was discovered the world is round, some cartographer said "I'm putting it here!", but on Kerbin there is no definition of Longitude.

Even if you were to say that the KSC is on the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator. Which hemisphere would fall on which side of that line at that position?

Edited June 26, 2014 by Alshain

[Darkstar616]

Nope, no bodies have axial tilts although its been suggested. I use a cheat mod of sorts called HyperEdit that displays latitude and longitude to a certain extent so it's definitely possible to implement.

Alshain, meridians may be arbitrary but equators are not; as determined by the axis of rotation. Use Wikipedia if you're having trouble with the concept of longitude and latitude.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Longitude however is tricky because it's specifically an Earth term by definition. What defines a longitude of 0 degrees (i.e. the Prime Meridian?) Well on Earth it's just an arbitrary accepted definition that once upon a time, presumably after it was discovered the world is round, some cartographer said "I'm putting it here!", but on Kerbin there is no definition of Longitude.

Even if you were to say that the KSC is on the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator. Which hemisphere would fall on which side of that line at that position?

Just an FYI, latitude and longitude have existed in KSP for a while. In fact, if you have something landed on a celestial body and go to map view, when you hover your mouse over it, it'll display the co-ordinates.

Also, http://www.kerbalmaps.com/.

[Nikolai]

Well inclination is on Kerbal Engineer.

I tend to prefer to play vanilla.

Longitude however is tricky because it's specifically an Earth term by definition.

No, it isn't.

Even though longitude is arbitrary (i.e., not related to an inherent property of the body like rotation), longitudinal coordinates exist for other bodies in the Solar System besides Earth.

Longitudinal coordinates also exist for every body in the Kerbal system. If you look at the location data for any object on the surface of any body (or in orbit, for that matter) in the persistent file, the location above the body is given in terms of latitude, longitude, and altitude. Even if you look at something landed on the surface in the Map View or the Tracking Station and hover your cursor over it, you will get latitude and longitude for that object.

What defines a longitude of 0 degrees (i.e. the Prime Meridian?) Well on Earth it's just an arbitrary accepted definition that once upon a time, presumably after it was discovered the world is round, some cartographer said "I'm putting it here!", but on Kerbin there is no definition of Longitude.

Trivially false. While the location of the prime meridian is arbitrary, it was placed well after people knew the Earth was round; and Kerbin's longitudinal coordinates are defined in the game.

Even if you were to say that the KSC is on the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator. Which hemisphere would fall on which side of that line at that position?

That's a matter of rotational direction. The eastern hemisphere lies to the east of the prime meridian; the western hemisphere lies to its west.

But the KSC does not lie on either the prime meridian or the equator. Its coordinates are 00d06m09s S, 74d34m31s W. The wiki: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Center

Edited June 26, 2014 by Nikolai