Subject: RFC 1712: The terms Latitude and Longitude are swapped

From: "Coleman, Arthur" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 11:34:56 -0500

Hellos,

In the RFC 1712, the definitions for Latitude and Longitude are swapped.

I believe this can be considered a typo as the actual values in the
resource record can (and should) be kept in their current order. 

The correct descriptions are (in general terms): 
    Latitude is the degrees North or South of the Equator and can be
referenced with a range of -90 to +90. 
    Longitude is the degrees East or West of the prime meridian and can
be referenced with a range of -180 to +180.

Below is my attempt to write the errata.  If someone wants to make
suggestion about how the errata should be written, please tell me and I
will make a go at doing it as requested.

    Art Coleman   [email-masked]

In RFC 1712 the terms Latitude and Longitude are swapped in that each
was given the other's definition.  
Also the preferred order of the terms is Latitude then Longitude.  In
addition to matching the terms with their correct definitions, this
ordering is also addressed.

In Section 3, page 3 is a table, it says:

        MSB                                        LSB 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                 LONGITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                  LATITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                  ALTITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

It should say:

        MSB                                        LSB 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                  LATITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                 LONGITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 
        /                  ALTITUDE                  / 
        +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

Rational: It is only the terms that are being corrected, the value
ranges associated with the first (-90..90) and second (-180..180)
arguments are in the preferred order.

In Section 3, page 3 under 'where:', it says:

   LONGITUDE The real number describing the longitude encoded as a 
             printable string. The precision is limited by 256 charcters

             within the range -90..90 degrees. Positive numbers 
             indicate locations north of the equator.

   LATITUDE The real number describing the latitude encoded as a 
            printable string. The precision is limited by 256 charcters 
            within the range -180..180 degrees. Positive numbers 
            indicate locations east of the prime meridian.

Is should say:

   LATITUDE The real number describing the latitude encoded as a 
            printable string. The precision is limited by 256 characters

            within the range -90..90 degrees. Positive numbers 
            indicate locations north of the equator.

   LONGITUDE The real number describing the longitude encoded as a 
             printable string. The precision is limited by 256
characters 
             within the range -180..180 degrees. Positive numbers 
             indicate locations east of the prime meridian.

Rational: to match the terms with their correct definitions, and fix the
spelling of the word 'characters'.

In Section 4, page 3, it says:

   GPOS has the following format: 
           <owner> <ttl> <class> GPOS <longitude> <latitude> <altitude>

It should say:

   GPOS has the following format: 
           <owner> <ttl> <class> GPOS <latitude> <longitude> <altitude>

Rational: It is only the terms that are being corrected, the value
ranges associated with the first (-90..90) and second (-180..180)
arguments are in the preferred order.

In Section 4, page 4, it says:

   The owner, ttl, and class fields are optional and default to the last

   defined value if omitted. The longitude is a floating point number 
   ranging from -90 to 90 with positive values indicating locations 
   north of the equator.  For example Perth, Western Australia is 
   located at 32^ 7` 19" south of the equator which would be specified 
   as -32.68820.  The latitude is a number ranging from -180.0 to 180.0.

   For example Perth, Western Australia is located at 116^ 2' 25" east 
   of the prime meridian which would be specified as 116.86520.  Curtin 
   University, Perth is also 10 meters above sea-level.

It should say:

   The owner, ttl, and class fields are optional and default to the last

   defined value if omitted. The latitude is a floating point number 
   ranging from -90 to 90 with positive values indicating locations 
   north of the equator.  For example Perth, Western Australia is 
   located at 32^ 7` 19" south of the equator which would be specified 
   as -32.68820.  The longitude is a number ranging from -180.0 to
180.0. 
   For example Perth, Western Australia is located at 116^ 2' 25" east 
   of the prime meridian which would be specified as 116.86520.  Curtin 
   University, Perth is also 10 meters above sea-level.

Rational: to match the terms with their correct definitions.