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    Re: Degree symbol input
    From: Paul Hirose
    Date: 2010 Sep 22, 18:53 -0700

    In Windows, the slow but simple way is to open Character Map and copy
    the character. (Note that a special character may be available in some
    fonts but not others.) When you select a character, the status line at
    the bottom of Character Map gives the official name of the character
    and, if available, the keyboard shortcut. E.g., Alt+0196 will produce
    "Latin Capital Letter A with Diaeresis" (Ä).
    
    In Kermit's messages, whether viewed by email or the web site, the
    degree symbol doesn't appear. I see only a ? (question mark). And in his 
    sig the name is spelled "Cou?tte" (a ? symbol between "Cou" and "tte".
    
    ISO-6709, "Standard representation of latitude, longitude, and altitude
    for geographic point locations", uses only ASCII symbols. It provides
    any desired precision and allows DMS, DM.m, and D.d formats. For
    example, +1234.5-02345.6/ means 12 degrees 34.5 minutes north, 23
    degrees 45.6 minutes west, altitude not specified.
    
    This is suitable for machine parsing but I think it's hard to read by
    eye. The same goes for the aviation format that Kermit suggested. (sorry)
    
    I've seen many unconventional angle notations, such as 12o23', 12*23',
    12.23, 12'23', all standing for 12 degrees 23 minutes. The one with the
    "decimal point" that isn't a decimal point is especially bad because
    it's so ambiguous. Another one encountered hereabouts is 34.567.890,
    meaning 34.567890 degrees. The cellular phone companies provide lat/lon
    in this format, which plays hell with the search and rescue forces
    trying to find a motorcyclist who's broken his leg miles from civilization.
    
    If it's necessary to avoid "funny symbols" in angles, I recommend using
    spaces to separate degrees, minutes, and seconds. E.g., N12 34.5 W067
    01.2 is pretty hard to mistake for anything but north 12 degrees 34.5
    minutes, west 67 degrees 1.2 minutes. (Or you could write N and W after 
    the minutes.) A sextant angle of 34 degrees 5.5 minutes could be written 
    as 34 05.5 or, with seconds instead of decimal minutes, 34 05 30.
    
    -- 
    
    
    
    
    
    

       
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