Coordinate Format Detector
Paste a coordinate pair in any common notation — Decimal Degrees, DMS, or Degrees+Decimal Minutes — and see which format it is, with all three shown side by side.
Processed locally in your browser — files are not uploaded.
Detected Format
Degrees, Minutes, Seconds (DMS)
Decimal Degrees (DD)
48.137167, 11.576111
Degrees, Minutes, Seconds (DMS)
48°08'13.8"N 11°34'34.0"E
Degrees, Decimal Minutes (DDM)
48°08.230'N 11°34.567'E
Example
48°08'13.8"N 11°34'34.0"E
→ Detected: DMS · Decimal: 48.137167, 11.576111
What This Tool Does
- Which of the three common coordinate formats a pasted value is in.
- The same coordinate converted into the other two formats automatically.
- A clear "not a valid coordinate" result instead of a silent wrong guess when input can't be parsed.
Common Use Cases
- Making sense of a coordinate copied from a GPS device, survey report, or old dataset without a documented format.
- Quickly converting a DMS value from a paper map or aviation chart into decimal degrees for a script or spreadsheet.
- Sanity-checking that a coordinate someone sent you is actually valid before using it.
How It Works
- Paste a coordinate pair — with or without a comma between latitude and longitude.
- The tool tries the stricter formats first (DMS, then DDM) so a value with seconds is never misread as one without.
- Once detected, the same position is shown in all three formats, each with its own copy button.
Related Geographic Concepts
- Decimal Degrees vs. DMS vs. DDM
- Three notations for the same latitude/longitude value — decimal degrees (48.137154) is easiest for software, DMS (degrees/minutes/seconds) and DDM (degrees/decimal minutes) are more common on paper maps and GPS displays.
- Hemisphere letters
- N/S and E/W letters (or a leading minus sign) indicate which side of the equator or prime meridian a coordinate falls on — this tool reads either convention.
FAQ
What coordinate formats does this tool recognize?
Decimal Degrees (48.137154), Degrees/Minutes/Seconds (48°08'13.8"N), and Degrees + Decimal Minutes (48°08.230'N) — the three formats you'll encounter across GPS devices, survey data, and mapping software.
Why does the same coordinate look so different across sources?
GPS units, marine navigation, aviation, and web maps each default to a different one of these three formats by convention — the underlying position is identical, only the notation changes.
Can I paste a coordinate without a comma between latitude and longitude?
Yes — for DMS and DDM input, the hemisphere letter (N/S) marks where latitude ends and longitude begins, so "48°08'13.8"N 11°34'34.0"E" (space-separated) works without a comma.
Does this tool flag an invalid or out-of-range coordinate?
Yes — if the detected latitude or longitude falls outside -90..90 or -180..180, the tool reports that no valid coordinate was found rather than guessing.
Related Datasets
Need more than a single lookup?
Build a Custom DatasetData source: GeoNames, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. GeoDataKit adds indexing, filtering, matching, transformation, conversion, and export tooling on top of that data — it does not claim ownership of the underlying dataset.