When you enter coordinates in Maptitude, you may find that the data is in Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) format, which needs to be converted to decimal degrees for most mapping tasks. This article details the steps to convert the DMS Latitude and Longitude fields into decimal degrees:
- Open the layer of the points you want to convert.
- Open the dataview of that layer.
- Choose Dataview>Formula Fields to display the Formula dialog box.
- From the Field Picker, choose Latitude or Longitude, depending on which coordinate you want to convert first.
- In the Formula Field, enter the following formula for Latitude:
=IF(LEFT(D2,1)="N", 1, -1) * (MID(D2,3,FIND("°",D2)-3) + MID(D2,FIND("°",D2)+2,FIND("′",D2)-FIND("°",D2)-2)/60 + MID(D2,FIND("′",D2)+2,FIND("''",D2)-FIND("′",D2)-2)/3600)
- And for Longitude:
=IFERROR(
IF(LEFT(E2,1)="E", 1, -1) * (MID(E2,3,FIND("°",E2)-3) + MID(E2,FIND("°",E2)+2,FIND("′",E2)-FIND("°",E2)-2)/60 + MID(E2,FIND("′",E2)+2,FIND("''",E2)-FIND("′",E2)-2)/3600),
IF(LEFT(E2,1)="E", 1, -1) * (MID(E2,3,FIND("°",E2)-3) + MID(E2,FIND("°",E2)+2,FIND("′",E2)-FIND("°",E2)-2)/60 + MID(E2,FIND("′",E2)+2,LEN(E2)-FIND("′",E2)-2)/3600)
)
- In the Formula Field drop-down menu, you can give the Formula Field a name, such as “Decimal Latitude” or “Decimal Longitude,” and click OK.
- Repeat the process for the other coordinate (Longitude or Latitude).
- This will add two new fields to your dataview that contain the Lat/Long coordinates in decimal degrees.
Now, your data is ready for use in Maptitude with the coordinates in decimal degrees format.