Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> lucanos@gmail.com wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I am still trying to understand the field types available in MySQL, so
> > I am hoping to be able to call upon the experience and knowledge of you
> > guys to try and get my head around this.
> >
> > I am trying to figure out which field type to use when storing Latitude
> > and Longitude values.
> > The field type would need to be able to handle numbers between -180 and
> > 180, out to about 8 decimal spaces (maybe more).
> >
> > I realise that this is a simple question, but I would appreciate any
> > help you can give.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Luke
> >
>
> Are you sure you need EIGHT decimal places? That's about 0.04 in. (.1
> cm.). 4 decimal places (about 34 feet/11 meters) is generally close enough.
>
> First you have to figure just how much precision you need. Then you
> need to decide how you want to keep it. Personally, I keep mine in
> number of seconds (accurate to about 100 feet/33 meters) as an integer
> because it's faster to compare integers than floating point numbers. If
> that isn't good enough, you could keep it in 1/10s of a second as an
> integer.
>
> Alternatively, you could use one of the floating point data types such
> as FLOAT or DOUBLE.
>
> You can get more information on the data types, their ranges, etc. at
> http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/...-overview.html.
>
> --
> ==================
> Remove the "x" from my email address
> Jerry Stuckle
> JDS Computer Training Corp.
> jstucklex@attglobal.net
> ==================

I simply threw the figure 8 out there after seeing that Google Earth
uses around 6, and trying to allow for more detail than I might be
wanting to use at the moment.

Thanks for the assistance guys.