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The numerical values for latitude and longitude can occur in a number of different units or formats: [2] sexagesimal degree: degrees, minutes, and seconds : 40° 26′ 46″ N 79° 58′ 56″ W; degrees and decimal minutes: 40° 26.767′ N 79° 58.933′ W; decimal degrees: +40.446 -79.982; There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a ...
The equator is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, so each degree at the equator represents 111,319.5 metres (365,221 ft). As one moves away from the equator towards a pole, however, one degree of longitude is multiplied by the cosine of the latitude, decreasing the distance, approaching zero at the pole.
At 30° a longitudinal second is 26.76 m, at Greenwich (51°28′38″N) 19.22 m, and at 60° it is 15.42 m. On the WGS 84 spheroid, the length in meters of a degree of latitude at latitude ϕ (that is, the number of meters you would have to travel along a north–south line to move 1 degree in latitude, when at latitude ϕ), is about
Degrees, minutes and seconds, when used, must each be separated by a pipe ("|"). Map datum must be WGS84 if possible (except for off-Earth bodies). Avoid excessive precision (0.0001° is <11 m, 1″ is <31 m). Maintain consistency of decimal places or minutes/seconds between latitude and longitude. Latitude (N/S) must appear before longitude (E/W).
Many electronic calculators allow calculations of trigonometric functions in either degrees or radians. The calculator mode must be compatible with the units used for geometric coordinates. Differences in latitude and longitude are labeled and calculated as follows:
The latitude and longitude of every other point in North America is then based on its distance and direction from Meades Ranch: If a point was X meters in azimuth Y degrees from Meades Ranch, measured on the Clarke Ellipsoid of 1866, then its latitude and longitude on that ellipsoid were defined and could be calculated.
The table shows both for the WGS84 ellipsoid with a = 6 378 137.0 m and b = 6 356 752.3142 m. The distance between two points 1 degree apart on the same circle of latitude, measured along that circle of latitude, is slightly more than the shortest distance between those points (unless on the equator, where these are equal); the difference is ...
The reverse conversion is harder: given X-Y-Z can immediately get longitude, but no closed formula for latitude and height exists. See "Geodetic system." Using Bowring's formula in 1976 Survey Review the first iteration gives latitude correct within 10-11 degree as long as the point is within 10,000 meters above or 5,000 meters below the ellipsoid.