Oolite Bulletins

I've been having a look through the Wiki 'Ship' pages (for the Core Ships) and I think I've found a few inconsistencies in the dimensions.
However, before I mention them, is there any reason why they are arranged Width, Height, Length?
For what it's worth I'm used to dimensions being expressed as LxWxH, and find it hard to get my head around WxHxL.
Anyway, to get to the point, a couple of the ships are wrong. I'm not disputing the numbers, but whether the right value has been attributed to the right 'side'.
I work on the assumption that 'Length' is nose to tail, 'Width' is side to side (wingtip to wingtip) and 'Height' is top to bottom.

Gecko:- 12m long, 65m wide and 40m High. Surely this should be 40(Long)x65(Wide)x12(High).

Mamba:- 55(L)x65(W)x12(H), which should be 65(L)x55(W)x12(H)

Assuming I'm right and no-one objects, shall I correct these entries on the Wiki? Also, do you have a view on LxWxH versus WxHxL?

The most reliable core ship dimensions are in each ship’s data (.dat) file, found in:
Oolite\oolite.app\Resources\Models… those are WxHxL. The Gecko is 65x12x40.
The Wiki and the Oolite Reference Sheet can be unreliable.

Go ahead.

Personally I have no favourite order of measures. But I guess the uncommon order on the Wiki may be the reason for the mingled values. They were probably c&p'd from another source where the order was different.

And it is not at all unlikely that there are some completely wrong values. If you spot an error, correct it. Take the dat-files as the authoritative source, at least for the basic set. (For ships with subentities, you will have to calculate yourself.)

Actually, width by height by length seems the most logical order, for me.

Smivs wrote:

However, before I mention them, is there any reason why they are arranged Width, Height, Length?
For what it's worth I'm used to dimensions being expressed as LxWxH, and find it hard to get my head around WxHxL.

The reason that this order is used is most likely because WxHxL follows the X,Y,Z axis order of the model, so modellers think in this order.

El Viejo wrote:

Actually, width by height by length seems the most logical order, for me.

Would also be my logical order: sorted by volume (or mass)

Width x Height ( x Length) makes sense to me simply because you present your WxH to the docking slot - L is not really relevant at this point!

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go through all the .dat files and check the dimensions against the Wiki, making corrections as needed.
I'll leave WxHxL as it is...there seem to be plenty of good reasons to do so. I think my obsession with LxWxH comes from a past life as a Kitchen Designer where the length (of walls/cabinets) is the prime dimension.
I'll post here again when it's done.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Width x Height ( x Length) makes sense to me simply because you present your WxH to the docking slot - L is not really relevant at this point!

True… unless you’re pulling one of those ‘handbrake parking’ stunts, and docking sideways.

El Viejo wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Width x Height ( x Length) makes sense to me simply because you present your WxH to the docking slot - L is not really relevant at this point!

True… unless you’re pulling one of those ‘handbrake parking’ stunts, and docking sideways.

Ah, you mean like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QykhZUnMuk

I have now checked and corrected the Wiki entries for each ship, so the dimensions stated are now an accurate reflection of the dimensions taken from the .dat files (Oolite v1.74.1).
As discussed above I have left the sequence as Width x Height x Length.

Thanks Smivs.