Question 1

What are the geographic coordinate formats?

Accepted Answer

Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS): 40° 26' 46" N. Decimal degrees (DD): 40.446° N. Both represent the same location.

Question 2

How do I convert DMS to decimal degrees?

Accepted Answer

Degrees + (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600). Example: 40° 26' 46" = 40 + 26/60 + 46/3600 = 40.446°

Question 3

What is UTM vs lat/long?

Accepted Answer

UTM uses meters in zones. Lat/long uses degrees globally. UTM is better for local distance calculation; lat/long for global positioning.

Geographic Coordinate Converter

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