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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: MWAZ on December 06, 2013, 10:39:00 AM

Title: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: MWAZ on December 06, 2013, 10:39:00 AM
I'm not sure how to interpret some GPS coordinates that were printed in a book I have. What format are these numbers in?

Here's a couple of examples.
N32° 49 35.1,  W116°05 32.8
N33° 05 16,  W115° 22 06

I'm new at this but these coordinates don't seem to fit the standard formats that I'm familiar with.  Degrees, Minutes, Decimal Minutes  or Degrees, Minutes, Seconds

How do I interpret these coordinates?
Title: Re: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: Seldom on December 06, 2013, 11:31:44 AM
Looks like Degrees Minutes Seconds to me.  Maybe 32degrees 49' 35.1" ?  Looks to me like the author just left out the degree and second designations.  None of the values to the right of the degrees is greater than 60.  Why would you expect anything otherwise?
Title: Re: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: Boyd on December 06, 2013, 11:35:52 AM
I agree. Have you tried simply pasting those values into Google Maps? This is what I get. Are these the locations you were expecting?

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=N32%C2%B0+49+35.1,++W116%C2%B005+32.8&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=40.07304,-74.724323&sspn=8.379485,7.591553&t=m&z=13

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=N33%C2%B0+05+16,++W115%C2%B0+22+06&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=32.826417,-116.092444&sspn=0.143817,0.118618&t=m&z=14

Also, if you click on the Maps Lab link in the left window pane of Google Maps, you can scroll down and enable the LatLng marker. This will show your position in decimal degrees as well as DMS.
Title: Re: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: MWAZ on December 06, 2013, 01:10:55 PM
Thanks, that makes sense.
But here's another set of coordinates from the same source that Google earth doesn't recognize. Looks like deg, min and a decimal (?).
N35° 01' .844,  W116° 19' .804

Title: Re: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: MWAZ on December 06, 2013, 01:25:09 PM
Ok, I think I figured it out. This last format is deg, min, decimal min.
Thanks Boyd and Seldom for your help.
Title: Re: How do I interpret these coordinates?
Post by: dbperry on December 23, 2013, 05:42:56 AM
... and just for future reference for others who might stumble onto this thread, here is a good page explaining the three most common formats:

https://www.maptools.com/tutorials/lat_lon/formats