Struggling with Latitude and Longitude conversion?

Here’s how to manually convert amongst the three forms:

degrees minutes seconds,

degrees and decimal minutes,

decimal degrees

Degrees minutes and seconds to degrees and decimal minutes

• Example ~ To convert 54º 05’ 18” N to degrees and decimal minutes do the following:
• We are converting the seconds to a decimal part of a minute
• Divide the seconds (18) by the number of seconds in a minute (60) this will give the decimal part of a minute that 18 seconds represents
• 18/60 = 0.3
• Add the decimal minutes to the minutes and “discard” the seconds
• 05 + 0.3 = 5.3
• So the answer is 54º 05.3’ N

Degrees and decimal minutes to decimal degrees

• Example ~ To convert 54º 05.3’ N to decimal degrees do the following:
• We are converting the minutes to a decimal part of a degree
• Divide the minutes (5.3) by the number of minutes in a degree (60) this will give the decimal part of a degree that 5.3 minutes represents
• 5.3/60 = 0.08833
• Add the decimal degrees to the degrees and discard the minutes
• 54 + 0.08833 = 54.08833
• So the answer is 54.08833º

Degrees minutes seconds to decimal degrees

Do the task in two steps as shown above. First convert to degrees and decimal minutes. Next, convert to decimal degrees.

Decimal degrees to degrees and decimal minutes

• Example ~ To convert from 54.08833º N to degrees and decimal minutes do the following:
• We are converting from decimal degrees to minutes
• Multiply the decimal part (0.08833) times the number of minutes in a degree (60) and replace the decimal degrees with the minutes
• 0.08833 x 60 = 5.3
• So the answer is 54º 05.3’ N

Degrees and decimal minutes to degrees minutes seconds

• Example ~ To convert from 54º 05.3’ N to degrees minutes seconds do the following:
• We are converting the decimal minutes to seconds
• Multiply the decimal part (0.3) times the number of seconds in a minute (60) and replace the decimal minutes with seconds
• 0.3 x 60 = 18
• So the answer is 54º 05’ 18” N

Decimal degrees to degrees minutes seconds

Do the task in two steps as shown above. First convert to degrees and decimal minutes. Next convert to degrees minutes seconds.