Latitude and Longitude Converter

Geographic coordinates can be written in different formats.

Decimal Degrees (DD):

• Example: 40.7128, -74.0060 (New York City)
• Positive = North/East, Negative = South/West

Degrees Minutes Seconds (DMS):

• Example: 40 deg 42’ 46.08" N, 74 deg 0’ 21.6" W

Converting DD to DMS:

1. The whole number is the degrees: 40
2. Multiply the decimal by 60 for minutes: 0.7128 x 60 = 42.768
3. The whole number is minutes: 42
4. Multiply the remaining decimal by 60 for seconds: 0.768 x 60 = 46.08

Converting DMS to DD:

• DD = Degrees + (Minutes / 60) + (Seconds / 3600)
• 40 + (42/60) + (46.08/3600) = 40.7128

Notable coordinates:

• New York: 40.7128 N, 74.0060 W
• London: 51.5074 N, 0.1278 W
• Tokyo: 35.6762 N, 139.6503 E
• Sydney: 33.8688 S, 151.2093 E

Which format you need depends on where the number is going. Software, mapping APIs, and GPS apps almost always want decimal degrees, because a single signed number per axis is easy to store and do math on. Paper charts, surveying, and aviation still lean on degrees-minutes-seconds, the older notation that predates calculators. The common mistake when converting is the sign: decimal degrees uses negatives for south and west, while DMS uses the letters N/S/E/W, so dropping a minus sign quietly flips you to the wrong hemisphere.

Decimal places are worth understanding too, because precision costs digits. At the equator, the fifth decimal of a degree is about one meter, the fourth is about ten meters, and the sixth gets you to roughly ten centimeters. So 40.71280 pins a spot to within a meter, while 40.71 only narrows it to about a kilometer. Copy enough decimals for the job and no more: a street address needs five, a country-level marker needs two.