Degrees Minutes Seconds to Lat Long Converter
Convert Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds (DMS) to decimal latitude and longitude instantly with our free DMS to Decimal Degrees converter. It transforms coordinates like 40° 26' 46" N into the modern decimal format (40.446111°) used by GPS devices, geocoding APIs, and mapping software. Perfect for GPS navigation, geocaching, and GIS — just enter your DMS values and get precise decimal coordinates in seconds.
Decimal degrees are the format most software expects: a single signed number that is easy to store, compare, and pass to mapping libraries. This converter collapses DMS notation into that number while preserving the hemisphere. To go the other way, use the Lat Long to DMS tool.
Live Example
DMS collapses into a single decimal value per axis, with the sign carrying the hemisphere:
Input (DMS)
48° 51' 30.24" N
2° 17' 40.20" EOutput (decimal)
Latitude: 48.8584
Longitude: 2.2945How to Convert Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees
- Enter Latitude Values: Type the degrees, minutes, and seconds for your latitude.
- Enter Longitude Values: Type the degrees, minutes, and seconds for your longitude.
- Convert: Click Convert to calculate high-precision decimal coordinates.
- Copy or Download: Copy the decimal coordinates to your clipboard or save them as a text file.
Key Features
- ✅ Convert latitude and longitude from DMS to decimal degrees
- ✅ Support for positive and negative coordinates
- ✅ High-precision output with six decimal places
- ✅ Copy converted coordinates to clipboard
- ✅ Download coordinates as a text file
- ✅ Input validation for accurate results
Common Use Cases
- GPS Devices: Convert traditional DMS coordinates for use in modern GPS receivers.
- Mapping Software: Prepare coordinates for Google Maps, QGIS, and other web mapping tools.
- Geocaching: Transform DMS waypoints into decimal format for geocaching apps.
- GIS Applications: Standardize survey and location data for geographic information systems.
Benefits of Using Our Tool
- ✅ Free to use with no registration required
- ✅ Instant, high-precision conversions
- ✅ Handles positive and negative coordinates
- ✅ Copy and download results in one click
- ✅ All processing in your browser—your data stays private
About Converting DMS to Decimal Degrees
DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds) divides each degree into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds — the same way an hour is divided. To collapse it into a single decimal degree value, convert the minutes and seconds into a fraction of a degree and add them to the whole degrees: decimal = degrees + (minutes / 60) + (seconds / 3600). The hemisphere letter sets the sign: N and E are positive, S and W are negative.
Decimal degrees are what computers prefer. GPS devices, Google Maps URLs, geocoding APIs, and spatial databases all use signed decimal values because they sort, compare, and compute distances with simple arithmetic (no need to carry three fields per axis). Latitude stays within ±90 and longitude within ±180, which makes range validation trivial. For most street-level work, five decimal places (about 1.1 m) is plenty; fewer is fine for city-level mapping.
The tricky part of DMS parsing is the variety of input styles — 48°51'30"N, 48 51 30 N, or 48.8584 — and handling the rollover when seconds or minutes reach 60. A robust converter normalises all of these and applies the hemisphere sign correctly. To reverse the conversion, use the Lat Long to DMS tool.
Common Errors and How to Fix Them
- Wrong sign on the result: The hemisphere sets the sign. S and W must produce negative values; omitting the letter loses direction.
- Value out of range: Latitude must be ≤ 90, longitude ≤ 180. A minute or second of 60+ indicates a carry that wasn't rolled into the next unit.
- Input not recognised: Use a consistent separator (degrees, minutes, seconds symbols or spaces) and include the hemisphere letter.
- Lat/long swapped: Latitude (N/S) is always the smaller range. Feeding a 120° value as latitude is an error.