Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees: GPS Coordinate Guide

The short answer

To convert degrees, minutes and seconds (DMS) to decimal degrees, use: decimal degrees = degrees + minutes ÷ 60 + seconds ÷ 3600. For example, 28°36'50" becomes 28 + 36/60 + 50/3600 = 28.613889°. Make the result negative for south latitudes and west longitudes. You can check each part with the Angle Converter, which converts arcminutes and arcseconds to degrees.

What DMS and decimal degrees mean

A degree is split into 60 minutes (written ') and each minute into 60 seconds (written "). So:

• 1° = 60' = 3,600"
• 1' = 1/60° ≈ 0.0166667°
• 1" = 1/3600° ≈ 0.000277778°

GPS devices, old maps, property documents and survey records often use DMS, such as 28°36'50"N. Most apps, spreadsheets and mapping software prefer decimal degrees (DD), such as 28.613889. Both describe exactly the same point.

DMS to decimal degrees, step by step

Keep the whole degrees as they are.

Divide the minutes by 60.

Divide the seconds by 3,600.

Add the three numbers.

Apply the sign: north and east are positive, south and west are negative.

Example 1: Google's own example

Google Maps' help page uses the location 41°24'12.2"N 2°10'26.5"E and gives the decimal version as 41.40338, 2.17403. Checking the arithmetic:

• Latitude: 41 + 24/60 + 12.2/3600 = 41 + 0.4 + 0.0033889 = 41.403389
• Longitude: 2 + 10/60 + 26.5/3600 = 2 + 0.1666667 + 0.0073611 = 2.174028

Rounded to five decimal places these match Google's 41.40338, 2.17403.

Example 2: a point in New Delhi

28°36'50"N, 77°12'32"E:

• 28 + 36/60 + 50/3600 = 28 + 0.6 + 0.0138889 = 28.613889
• 77 + 12/60 + 32/3600 = 77 + 0.2 + 0.0088889 = 77.208889

Decimal coordinates: 28.613889, 77.208889.

Example 3: southern and western hemispheres

33°51'54"S, 151°12'36"E (Sydney area):

• 33 + 51/60 + 54/3600 = 33.865, and S makes it negative: -33.865
• 151 + 12/60 + 36/3600 = 151.21

Decimal coordinates: -33.865, 151.21. Forgetting the minus sign moves the point to the other side of the equator, thousands of kilometres away.

Decimal degrees to DMS

The whole number part is the degrees.

Multiply the decimal part by 60. The whole number part of the result is the minutes.

Multiply the remaining decimal part by 60 again. That gives the seconds.

Example: 19.0760, 72.8777 (Mumbai area)

Latitude 19.0760:

• Degrees: 19
• 0.0760 × 60 = 4.56, so minutes = 4
• 0.56 × 60 = 33.6, so seconds = 33.6
• Result: 19°4'33.6"N

Longitude 72.8777:

• Degrees: 72
• 0.8777 × 60 = 52.662, so minutes = 52
• 0.662 × 60 = 39.72, so seconds = 39.72
• Result: 72°52'39.72"E

If the decimal value is negative, do the calculation on the positive number and add S (for latitude) or W (for longitude) at the end.

Using the Angle Converter for each part

The Angle Converter converts one value at a time between degrees, radians, gradians, arcminutes, arcseconds and turns. To convert 28°36'50":

Type 36, set From to Arcminute, and read the Degree row: 0.6.

Type 50, set From to Arcsecond, and read the Degree row: 0.01388889.

Add them to the whole degrees: 28 + 0.6 + 0.01388889 = 28.61388889.

For the reverse, type the decimal part of the degrees (for example 0.8777), keep From as Degree, and read the Arcminute row (52.662). Then convert the leftover 0.662 arcminutes to arcseconds in the same way.

The converter shows up to eight decimal places, so you can round to whatever precision you need.

How many decimal places do you need?

One degree of latitude is roughly 111 km. That gives a feel for precision:

Decimal places	Approximate precision	Typical use
2	about 1.1 km	Town or area
4	about 11 m	A building or plot
5	about 1.1 m	A doorway
6	about 0.11 m	Survey-style detail

For longitude, the distance per degree shrinks as you move away from the equator, so these figures are a maximum. Five or six decimal places are plenty for sharing a location.

Entering coordinates in Google Maps

According to Google's help page, Maps accepts decimal degrees (41.40338, 2.17403), DMS (41°24'12.2"N 2°10'26.5"E) and degrees with decimal minutes (41 24.2028, 2 10.4418). Google also advises:

• Put latitude first, then longitude.
• Use a full stop as the decimal separator, not a comma (41,40338 is incorrect).
• Latitude must be between -90 and 90, longitude between -180 and 180.

Degrees and decimal minutes (DMM)

Some marine and aviation GPS units show degrees and decimal minutes, such as 41 24.2028. Convert it by dividing only the minutes by 60: 41 + 24.2028/60 = 41.40338.

Common mistakes

• Dividing seconds by 60 instead of 3,600. Seconds are 1/3600 of a degree.
• Reading 28.36 as 28°36'. Decimal degrees are not minutes. 28.36° is 28°21'36".
• Dropping the minus sign for south or west.
• Swapping latitude and longitude. Latitude (north–south) comes first in most tools.
• Using commas as decimal separators in apps that expect full stops.

Related guides

• Degrees to Radians (and Radians to Degrees): Formula and Table
• How to Find When and Where a Photo Was Taken (EXIF Date and GPS) explains where photo GPS coordinates come from.