Coordinates Converter

Geographic coordinates identify a position on Earth, but the same position can be written in several formats. Decimal degrees use signed numbers, such as 40.7128 latitude and -74.006 longitude. Degrees-minutes-seconds, commonly called DMS, splits each angle into degrees, minutes, and seconds and uses a hemisphere letter. Universal Transverse Mercator, or UTM, represents a position as a zone, hemisphere, easting, and northing measured in meters. Decimal degrees are common in web maps, GPS exports, spreadsheets, and software APIs. Positive latitude is north of the equator and negative latitude is south. Positive longitude is east of the prime meridian and negative longitude is west. Valid latitude ranges from -90 to 90 degrees, while longitude ranges from -180 to 180 degrees. Keeping latitude before longitude is important because reversing the pair can place a point on another continent. DMS expresses the fractional part through base-60 subdivisions. One degree contains 60 minutes and one minute contains 60 seconds. To convert DMS to decimal degrees, divide minutes by 60 and seconds by 3,600, add the pieces, and apply a negative sign for south or west. To convert back, separate the whole degrees, multiply the remaining fraction by 60 for minutes, and repeat for seconds. Hemisphere letters avoid relying on a visible minus sign. UTM divides the world into 60 longitudinal zones and projects each zone onto a metric grid. Easting normally measures from a false origin placed 500,000 meters west of the central meridian. Northing measures from the equator in the northern hemisphere and uses a 10,000,000-meter false northing in the southern hemisphere. This calculator applies standard WGS 84 ellipsoid formulas. UTM is especially useful for local mapping, surveying, navigation, and distance work because coordinates are expressed in meters. Coordinate transformations can introduce small differences due to rounding, datum choice, and projection assumptions. A UTM coordinate is incomplete without its zone and hemisphere, and coordinates from a datum other than WGS 84 may not align exactly. The displayed output is suitable for general mapping and location exchange, but legal boundaries, high-precision surveys, and safety-critical navigation should use certified geospatial software and authoritative control data.