Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees

Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees Calculation:

•  D =

  Degrees

  Degrees of latitude or longitude as entered.

•  M =

  Minutes

  Minutes of latitude or longitude as entered. Each minute is ¹/₆₀ of a degree.

•  S =

  Seconds

  Seconds of latitude or longitude as entered. Each second is ¹/₆₀ of a minute or ¹/₃₆₀₀ of a degree.

• DD =

  Decimal Degrees

  Degrees of latitude, longitude or other units in a single number decimal form.

• -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

  Decimals

  Choose the number of decimals to show in your answer. This is also known as significant figures. Select an appropriate amount of significant figures based on the precision of the input numbers.

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Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees Formula

Degrees, minutes, and seconds can be converted to a single number of decimal degrees by expressing each of the sub-units of degrees as fractions of a degree and adding them all together. Minutes and seconds can be converted to degrees based on how many fractions of a degree are in each; one minute is ¹/₆₀ of a degree and one second is ¹/₃₆₀₀ of a degree.

Degrees, minutes, and seconds are combined to decimal degrees by converting the fractional values to decimals of degrees and adding all results.

Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees Variables

Any or all of the three inputs of degrees, minutes, and seconds may be used to calculate the result. Only degrees can be negative. Any of the values may have a decimal for the sake of calculation but in a well formed set of degrees, minutes, and seconds only the seconds would be expected to have a decimal.

Degrees (D)

Degrees of latitude or longitude. There are 180° for each hemisphere east and west and 90° for each hemisphere north and south. Degrees may be negative, which indicates direction relative to the prime meridian in geography. Degrees should not have a decimal value but it will be allowed in the computation.

Minutes (M)

A number representing ¹/₆₀ of a degree. Along with the seconds this represents the decimal portion of the degree. Each degree can have sixty ticks in the minute position, if further accuracy is required minutes are subdivided into seconds. Minutes given as negative values will automatically be made absolute in the calculation. Minutes should not have a decimal but it will be allowed in the computation.

Seconds (S)

A decimal number representing ¹/₆₀ of a minute or ¹/₃₆₀₀ of a degree. Seconds must not be negative, negative seconds will automatically be made absolute. Seconds may have a decimal.

Decimal Degrees (DD)

A single numberical expression of degrees with minutes and seconds converted into a decimal. In geography negative degrees of longitude are found west of the Prime Meridian and negative degrees of latitude are found south of the Equator.

Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees Solution

How can a latitude or longitude given in degrees, minutes, and seconds be expressed in decimal degrees? Fractional minutes and seconds will be added to the absolute value of the degrees:

A latitude or longitude of 45°30'36" is the same as writing 45.51°

Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees Example

Sometimes a latitude or longitude can be expressed with a degative value to indicate the hemisphere. Negative latitudes range from 0 to -90° and are found south of the equator. Negative longitudes range from 0 to -180° and are found west of the prime meridian. The conversion method is identical to above, keep the negative symbol on the degrees.

A longtiude of -150°20'47" can be expressed as -150.346389 decimal degrees. Note that the negative sign on the degrees must be ignored in the calculation and then returned to the final value. The hemisphere can also be indicated with a letter, W or S for negative hemisphere, but when dealing with decimal degrees in geography it is more common to use the negative sign since the goal is often to express latitude or longitude with a single number.