Latitude Longitude Formatter
Decimal Degrees
40.712800°, -74.006000°
DMS Format
40° 42' 46.08" N, 74° 0' 21.60" W
How it works
Latitude and longitude are the two-axis coordinate system that identifies any point on Earth's surface. Latitude measures north–south position (0° at equator, ±90° at poles); longitude measures east–west position (0° at the Prime Meridian through Greenwich, ±180°). The Latitude/Longitude Formatter converts between the three common notation formats and calculates distances between two coordinates.
**Three notation formats** 1. **DD (Decimal Degrees)**: 51.5074° N, 0.1278° W — used in GPS devices, databases, and APIs. Negative values = South/West. 2. **DMS (Degrees Minutes Seconds)**: 51° 30' 26.64" N, 0° 7' 40.08" W — traditional cartography and navigation. 3. **DDM (Degrees Decimal Minutes)**: 51° 30.444' N, 0° 7.668' W — used by many GPS receivers and marine charts.
**Conversion formulas** DD → DMS: degrees = floor(DD); minutes = floor((DD − degrees) × 60); seconds = ((DD − degrees) × 60 − minutes) × 60. DMS → DD: DD = degrees + (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600).
**Coordinate precision** Decimal degree precision: 1° ≈ 111 km. 0.1° ≈ 11.1 km. 0.01° ≈ 1.1 km. 0.001° ≈ 111 m. 0.0001° ≈ 11.1 m. 0.00001° ≈ 1.1 m. For most practical purposes, 5 decimal places (≈1 m precision) is sufficient; GPS receivers report 6–7 decimal places.
**Haversine distance formula** The great-circle distance between two points on Earth uses the Haversine formula: d = 2R × arcsin(√(sin²(Δlat/2) + cos(lat₁)cos(lat₂)sin²(Δlon/2))), where R = 6,371 km (Earth's mean radius). The calculator shows distance in km and miles.
Privacy: all calculations run in the browser. No coordinates are transmitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Degrees-minutes-seconds (DMS): 51° 30' 26" N — traditional format, each degree divided into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. Used in traditional navigation, nautical charts, and GPS devices with older interfaces. Decimal degrees (DD): 51.5072° — single number, easy for database storage, calculation, and APIs. The conversion: decimal minutes = minutes + seconds/60; decimal degrees = degrees + decimal_minutes/60. Example: 51° 30' 26" = 51 + 30/60 + 26/3600 = 51 + 0.5 + 0.00722 = 51.5072°. Google Maps uses decimal degrees; most GPS hardware can display both.
- Latitude: North is positive (+); South is negative (−). Range: −90° (South Pole) to +90° (North Pole). Longitude: East is positive (+); West is negative (−). Range: −180° to +180° (or 0° to 360° in some systems). The Prime Meridian (0° longitude) passes through Greenwich, London. The equator is 0° latitude. Examples: New York City ≈ 40.71° N, 74.01° W = (40.71, −74.01) in decimal. Sydney ≈ 33.87° S, 151.21° E = (−33.87, 151.21). When entering coordinates into APIs (Google Maps, Mapbox), latitude comes first, then longitude.
- Geocaching uses Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM): N 51° 30.444', W 000° 07.668'. This format is the default for many handheld GPS receivers and is specified in the geocaching.com cache page format. To convert from DDM to DD: DD = degrees + decimal_minutes/60. From DD to DDM: integer part is degrees; multiply fractional part by 60 for decimal minutes. Some geocaches use coordinate puzzles where you must solve a puzzle to decode the actual coordinates — often encoded as DDM or DMS with intentional obfuscation.
- Civilian GPS (without differential correction): typically ±3–5 metres horizontal accuracy. With SBAS (WAAS/EGNOS): ±1–3 metres. High-precision RTK GPS: ±1–2 centimetres. Smartphone GPS: ±3–10 metres (varies by satellite availability and device quality). Decimal degree precision: 4 decimal places ≈ 11m accuracy; 5 decimal places ≈ 1.1m; 6 decimal places ≈ 0.11m. Storing 6+ decimal places makes sense for survey-grade data; for general location tagging, 4–5 decimal places is more than sufficient and matches typical GPS hardware precision.