Mapping Hacks

44

|

Chapter 1, Mapping Your Life

#12 Create a Distance Grid in Excel

HACK

The point of this test sheet is to do a simple sanity check on the data. How

far is it from (0°,0°)to(1°N, 0°)? It should be 69 statute miles. And what is

the bearing? Due North, or 0 degrees. And from (1°S, 1°W) to (0°,0°) should

be approximately the Pythagorean distance of √(69

2

+69

2

), or 97.58 statute

miles.

Making Your Own Grid

While a distance grid of the train stations of Disneyland may be fascinating

to Disneyphiles, you are likely more interested in the stories intrinsic to your

own personal landmarks and waypoints. The sheets named Your_Data_

Here, Your Distance Grid, and Your Bearing Grid are for you! They start

out showing yet more waypoints from Disneyland because, after all, every-

one should have the tools to determine that it is about 152 yards from the

Enchanted Tiki Room to the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean, but you

can paste up to 96 points into Your_Data_Here and automatically get a dis-

tance grid in Your Distance Grid and a bearing grid in Your Bearing Grid.

The limit of 96 points is purely arbitrary. Feel free to examine the structure

of the sheets and extend them to infinity and beyond. To use these sheets,

paste your own point name, latitude, and longitude into Your_Data_Here

(Figure 1-25) starting at B5:D5 and going as far as B100:D100.

The

posDist( ) function returns distance in nautical miles.