What is the difference between DMS and decimal degrees?

DMS writes a coordinate as degrees, minutes and seconds with a hemisphere letter, like 40°26′46″N. Decimal degrees (DD) writes the same point as a single signed number, 40.446111, where the sign carries the hemisphere (negative for South or West). One minute is 1/60 of a degree and one second is 1/3600, so 40°26′46″ = 40 + 26/60 + 46/3600 = 40.4461°. DMS reads well on a chart; DD is what software like Google Maps, GeoJSON and GPS libraries actually consume.

How much is 40°26′46″N in decimal degrees?

It is about 40.446111. The maths is 40 + 26 ÷ 60 + 46 ÷ 3600 = 40 + 0.43333 + 0.01278 = 40.44611. The N means northern hemisphere so the result stays positive; an S would flip it to −40.446111. Drop your value into the latitude box and the decimal appears instantly, rounded to six decimal places which is roughly 0.1 metre of precision.

What do the N, S, E and W letters mean and where does the minus sign come from?

N and S are the hemisphere for latitude, E and W for longitude. North and East are positive; South and West are negative. So 33°51′54″S becomes −33.865 and 79°58′56″W becomes −79.982. If your DMS string has no letter the tool keeps any minus sign you typed on the degrees. This is the single most common source of a flipped pin: a coordinate that lands in the wrong ocean usually has a missing or wrong hemisphere sign.

How do I paste these coordinates into Google Maps?

Google Maps wants decimal degrees as latitude then longitude, comma separated, like 40.446111, -73.9819. Copy the Google Maps row from this tool and paste it straight into the Maps search bar. Maps also accepts DMS such as 40°26′46″N 73°58′55″W, but the decimal pair is the most reliable. Latitude always comes first; swapping the order drops you on the wrong continent.

What are the valid ranges for latitude and longitude?

Latitude runs from −90 (South Pole) to +90 (North Pole). Longitude runs from −180 to +180, where ±180 is the antimeridian in the Pacific. The tool rejects anything outside these bounds and tells you which value is wrong, because a typo like a latitude of 120 is impossible and would silently break a map. The equator is 0 latitude and the prime meridian through Greenwich is 0 longitude.

Is this coordinate converter accurate enough for surveying or navigation?

For map pins, geocaching, aviation and marine plotting, yes. The tool keeps six decimal places of decimal degrees, which resolves to about 0.11 metre at the equator, and rounds seconds to one decimal place. It does not perform datum shifts, so a WGS84 value stays WGS84; if your source uses a national datum like OSGB36 or NAD27 you need a separate datum transformation before or after converting the format.

Drop a pin from a coordinate written in DMS

You copied 40°26′46″N 79°58′56″W out of a Wikipedia infobox or an old field notebook, but Google Maps and your mapping library only take decimal degrees. Paste each half into the latitude and longitude boxes, read 40.446111, -79.982222, copy the Google Maps row and drop the pin. The hemisphere letters set the minus signs so you do not have to remember that West is negative.

Clean up a GPS export for a GeoJSON or CSV import

A device or spreadsheet handed you coordinates in degrees-decimal- minutes like 40°26.767′N, but your import pipeline expects plain decimal degrees. Convert each point to DD, copy the decimal value, and feed your GeoJSON or database the number it actually parses instead of choking on the degree symbol.

Plot a marine or aviation waypoint

Charts and flight plans quote waypoints in DMS or decimal minutes, while your plotting app wants decimal degrees. Convert the waypoint, double-check it lands inside the ±90 / ±180 range, and copy it into your route. The range check catches a transposed digit before it sends you to the wrong hemisphere.

Share a precise location in a message or ticket

You found the exact spot for a survey marker, a geocache or a meeting point and want to send it to a colleague. Convert it, then share the URL: the link reopens the converter with the same latitude and longitude filled in, so the recipient sees every format and can copy whichever their tool needs.

Teach or check the DMS-to-decimal formula

Working through a GIS class or a navigation exam, you need to verify that 40 + 26/60 + 46/3600 really is 40.4461. Type the DMS, read the decimal, and flip it back to confirm the round trip. Seeing all three notations side by side makes the relationship between degrees, minutes and seconds obvious.

GPS Coordinate Converter (DMS, Decimal Degrees, Decimal Minutes)

Convert GPS coordinates between DMS, decimal degrees and decimal minutes, paste straight into Google Maps, all in your browser

Runs locally
Category Format Converter
Best for Turning pasted content or local files into a handoff-friendly format.

Latitude

Longitude

Try:

Decimal degrees (DD)

40.446111, -79.982222

Degrees minutes seconds (DMS)

40°26′46.0″N 79°58′56.0″W

Degrees decimal minutes (DDM)

40°26.767′N 79°58.933′W

Google Maps paste

40.446111, -79.982222

DMS, decimal degrees and decimal minutes are three ways of writing the same point. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

What this tool does

A free GPS coordinate converter that turns degrees-minutes-seconds (DMS, e.g. 40°26′46″N) into decimal degrees (DD, e.g. 40.4461) and back, and also handles degrees-decimal-minutes (DDM, e.g. 40°26.767′N). Enter latitude and longitude separately so the N/S and E/W hemisphere letters set the correct sign for you: South latitude and West longitude come out negative, exactly the way Google Maps, Leaflet and most GIS tools expect. Paste a mixed format, a colon-separated string or a bare decimal and the tool reads it, validates the range (latitude within ±90, longitude within ±180) and gives you all three notations at once, plus a ready-to-paste Google Maps pair. Every output has a one-click copy button, and the shareable URL reopens the same point. Everything runs client-side with no map tile, no geocoder and no upload, so it is fast and works offline.

Tool details

Input: Numbers; The page exposes text boxes, numeric controls, file pickers, or structured inputs depending on the tool.
Output: Live result + Copy; The result area focuses on usable output, with copy, download, or preview actions when supported.
Privacy: Browser-side processing; The main tool logic does not call an external API, so inputs normally stay in the current tab.
Save / share: Shareable URL state; Key settings are encoded in the URL so another person can reopen the same setup.
Performance budget: Initial JS <= 9 KB; No WASM budget is declared, keeping the tool quick to open on mobile.
Best fit: Format Converter · Developer; Category and role tags drive related tools, internal links, and quick fit checks.

How to use

1. Input

Paste or drop your content into the tool panel.
2. Process

Click the button. All processing is local in your browser.
3. Copy / Download

Copy the result or download to disk in one click.

How Coordinate Converter fits into your work

Use it when the main problem is getting content from one practical format into another.

Conversion jobs

Turning pasted content or local files into a handoff-friendly format.
Previewing a conversion before you use it in a larger workflow.
Cleaning small format mismatches without opening a full editor.

Conversion checks

Try a small sample first when the source format is messy.
Check character encoding, separators, and line endings after conversion.
Keep the source until the converted output has been reviewed.

Good next steps

These links move the current task into a more complete workflow.

Real-world use cases

Drop a pin from a coordinate written in DMS
You copied 40°26′46″N 79°58′56″W out of a Wikipedia infobox or an old field notebook, but Google Maps and your mapping library only take decimal degrees. Paste each half into the latitude and longitude boxes, read 40.446111, -79.982222, copy the Google Maps row and drop the pin. The hemisphere letters set the minus signs so you do not have to remember that West is negative.
Clean up a GPS export for a GeoJSON or CSV import
A device or spreadsheet handed you coordinates in degrees-decimal- minutes like 40°26.767′N, but your import pipeline expects plain decimal degrees. Convert each point to DD, copy the decimal value, and feed your GeoJSON or database the number it actually parses instead of choking on the degree symbol.
Plot a marine or aviation waypoint
Charts and flight plans quote waypoints in DMS or decimal minutes, while your plotting app wants decimal degrees. Convert the waypoint, double-check it lands inside the ±90 / ±180 range, and copy it into your route. The range check catches a transposed digit before it sends you to the wrong hemisphere.
Share a precise location in a message or ticket
You found the exact spot for a survey marker, a geocache or a meeting point and want to send it to a colleague. Convert it, then share the URL: the link reopens the converter with the same latitude and longitude filled in, so the recipient sees every format and can copy whichever their tool needs.
Teach or check the DMS-to-decimal formula
Working through a GIS class or a navigation exam, you need to verify that 40 + 26/60 + 46/3600 really is 40.4461. Type the DMS, read the decimal, and flip it back to confirm the round trip. Seeing all three notations side by side makes the relationship between degrees, minutes and seconds obvious.

Common pitfalls

Forgetting the hemisphere sign. A coordinate without N/S/E/W or a minus sign is ambiguous, since 79.982 and −79.982 sit on opposite sides of the prime meridian. West longitude and South latitude must be negative in decimal degrees, or your pin lands in the wrong hemisphere.
Swapping latitude and longitude. Latitude (±90) always comes first, longitude (±180) second. Pasting 40.45, −79.98 as longitude, latitude sends you to an impossible spot. If a value above 90 shows up in the latitude box, the two are almost certainly reversed.
Confusing decimal minutes with decimal degrees. 40°26.767′ is degrees-decimal-minutes; the .767 is minutes, not degrees. Reading it as 40.767° puts you about 35 km off. Match the format before you convert, and let the tool split the minutes for you.

Privacy

Every conversion runs as plain JavaScript inside your browser tab. The coordinates you type never leave the page: there is no map tile request, no geocoding call and no logging of where you looked. The one caveat is the share feature, which encodes the latitude and longitude into the URL query string, so a link you paste into chat will record that location in the recipient server's access log. For a sensitive site, use the copy buttons and paste the text rather than sharing the URL.

FAQ

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GPS Coordinate Converter (DMS, Decimal Degrees, Decimal Minutes)

What this tool does

Tool details

How to use

1. Input

2. Process

3. Copy / Download

How Coordinate Converter fits into your work

Conversion jobs

Conversion checks

Good next steps

Real-world use cases

Drop a pin from a coordinate written in DMS

Clean up a GPS export for a GeoJSON or CSV import

Plot a marine or aviation waypoint

Share a precise location in a message or ticket

Teach or check the DMS-to-decimal formula

Common pitfalls

Privacy

FAQ

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