Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Displaying Latitude and Longitude.
If you do much geographic work, you may wonder if you can use Excel to display longitude and latitude in a cell in terms of degrees, minutes, and seconds. There are three ways that a solution can be approached.
First, if you just want to affect the display, you can follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
Now, if you type a number such as 1234543 into the cell, it is displayed as 123 degrees, 45 minutes, and 43 seconds.
Sometimes, however, you may want to take a decimal value that represents latitude and longitude and display it in degrees, minutes, and seconds. For instance, you may want 122.44 (which is a decimal representation of degrees) to be displayed as 122 degrees, 26 minutes, and 24 seconds. This cannot be accomplished with formatting the cell in which the number is contained. Instead, you must use a formula to achieve the proper display. For instance, if 122.44 is in cell A7, then you can put the following in cell B7:
=TEXT(TRUNC(A7), "0" & CHAR(176) & " ") & TEXT(INT((ABS(A7) - INT(ABS(A7)))*60), "0' ") & TEXT(((((ABS(A7)-INT(ABS(A7)))*60) - INT((ABS(A7) - INT(ABS(A7)))*60))*60), " 0''")
This is a long formula, but it provides the desired formatting of the latitude or longitude value. The result is text, and cannot be used in any calculations. If you want to use a display instead, you can simply divide the decimal value of the latitude or longitude by 24, which converts it into the same value ranges used by Excel to represent times. Then you can format the display of the formula as follows:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3016) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Displaying Latitude and Longitude.
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2019-12-09 15:08:05
Cara
Hi, I am trying to convert lat and long to decimal, but the format they are currently in is date and time - even though it appears they are hr min sec. I need to separate the 3 numbers so that I can enter them into my conversion document, but currently can't. Can you please help me change the format so that I can break down the numbers, to then convert them? Thank you.
2019-01-12 14:11:55
Michael Bennett
Bit clunky (very clunky actually) but trying using Windows Numeric popup Keypad
2019-01-09 12:11:01
Scott
Mr. Wyatt,
Using your instructions above to create a CUSTOM LAT/LON format, all went well EXCEPT step 7 which adds the degree symbol.
"7. Hold down the Alt key and type 0176 on the numeric keypad. (This inserts the degree symbol—and you must use the numeric keypad.)"
I am using Excel 2016 on a laptop and a separate USB/wireless keyboard and number pad.
When I hold the ALT key and press 0176...nothing happens. If I hold the ALT key and use the 0176 on the upper row of the keyboard...all I get is a DING tone with each key stroke. End result is it will not accept the 0176 to create the degree symbol.
I can say that if I hold ALT and press something other than a number (0176) -such as a dash- the DASH gets inserted.
This only seems to fail when holding ALT and pressing NUMBERS.
Can you offer any advice or alternate work-around?
2017-11-29 10:35:36
Help please. Retired engineer and physician but brain is well-retired!!
I want to format cells for Long and Lat and I find Allen's solution works well BUT I need the letter E or W or N or S to follow. Eg, using his example, i want to type 1234543W to come out as 123 degrees, 45 minutes, 43 seconds W.
Is this possible?
Words of one syllable please?
Thanks
Dr John
2017-03-08 11:51:37
Great idea, let me check it
2016-12-01 08:33:16
Gerhard
Thanks for the formula. Was very helpful. However it shorts the direction, North East suit or west. How do you insert this in the formula?
2016-10-05 14:37:31
Willy Vanhaelen
@Neeraj
See my comment of 29 Jun 2015.
2016-10-05 06:37:27
Chris Reem
I want to paste hurricane forecast data from NHS and be able to PLOT it on a map.
Cut and paste from NHS like this:
INIT 05/0900Z 21.1N 74.6W 110 KT 125 MPH
12H 05/1800Z 22.3N 75.3W 110 KT 125 MPH
24H 06/0600Z 23.9N 76.6W 115 KT 130 MPH
36H 06/1800Z 25.5N 78.2W 115 KT 130 MPH
48H 07/0600Z 27.2N 79.5W 115 KT 130 MPH
72H 08/0600Z 30.5N 80.2W 95 KT 110 MPH
96H 09/0600Z 32.8N 77.0W 85 KT 100 MPH
120H 10/0600Z 33.1N 74.0W 70 KT 80 MPH
I want to see the variation of the forecast track from each advisory that are released 6 hours apart.
2016-10-04 18:59:46
Neeraj
I want to display the following
Input Value: 33 54.885 S
Output Value: 33°54.885' S
Kindly advice
2016-09-14 06:02:42
Marcel Jinca
Martin,
Conversion of decimal degree in DD:MM:SS, try this. Definitely go::
=TEXT(INT(A1);"00° ")&TEXT(INT((A1-INT(A1))*60);"00' ")&TEXT((A1*60-INT(A1*60))*60;"00,00"")
2016-09-13 05:34:04
Martin Johnson
I need to input coordinates in the format of
50° 50' 02.82''
I've tried modifying your instructions but due to my lack of understanding Excel have failed. Can you help me please.
Cheers
Martin
2016-03-23 17:56:47
Ricker
CC and Hirna,
Modified Degrees and decimal minutes when negative values are included then try this modification.
TEXT(TRUNC(A7), "0") & CHAR(176) &" " & TEXT(ABS(A7-TRUNC(A7))*60,"0.0000000") & "'"
-22.5123 translates to -22° 30.7380000'
2016-03-23 13:42:42
Ricker
Fantastic! The formula must be inserted into a single cell. It works better than ANYTHING else I have found so far.
Do you also have a formula converting DMS value, with or without spaces to decimal degrees?
Thank you,
Ricker
2015-12-28 15:25:58
Marcel Jinca
I applied this formula in Excel 2003 for declination values, but something strange happens. For negative values between -0°,999 and 0°, minus sign, no longer appears in the cell and value, although it is negative, it appears to be positive. For any value from -1 to -89 999, it is OK. How can I correct? Thank you.
2015-10-21 14:21:25
CC
This formula will provide the following resultset:
27° 19.9581'
=TEXT(TRUNC(F14), "0") & CHAR(176) &" " & TEXT((F14-TRUNC(F14))*60,"0.0000000") & "'"
2015-09-18 10:28:00
hirna
my longitudes and latitudes have seconds that are over 60 how do i fix this
2015-06-29 09:49:06
Dirk
Thank you for the Help!
2015-06-29 05:52:24
Willy Vanhaelen
@dirk
This formula should do the trick:
=TRUNC(F14)&"° "&ROUND(MOD(ABS(F14),1)*60,4)&"'"
2015-06-28 17:13:44
dirk
I am needing this formula to only have degrees and minutes. i was able to figure it out to round the minitues, but this is what i need.
Ex 27.33263539 degrees
to 27° 19.9581'
=TEXT(TRUNC(F14), "0" & CHAR(176) & " ") & TEXT(INT((ABS(F14)
- INT(ABS(F14)))*60), "0' ")
this is what i used, but i cant get it to show decimal of minute
your help would be greatly appreciated.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
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