# Travel >> Travel Preparation >> General Travel Prep

How to Convert Decimal Coordinates to Minutes

Typically, when you encounter coordinates on a GPS device or map, they come in the form of 40° 39' 11" N. In this case, 40 represents degrees, 39 represents minutes, 11 represents seconds and N represents North. Sometimes, however, coordinates are expressed in a decimal format, such as 41.878928 or -41.878928. In such instances, it may be necessary to convert the decimal coordinates into a specific standard, such as minutes.

Instructions

- 1
  Determine the decimal coordinate's direction. A positive latitude coordinate indicates North. A negative latitude coordinate indicates South. A positive longitude coordinate means East. A negative longitude coordinate means West.
- 2
  Separate the degrees from the minutes by removing the whole number from the coordinate. For example, given a North latitude coordinate 30.92593°, you would separate it into 30 degrees and .92593.
- 3
  Convert the degrees into minutes by multiplying the degrees by 60. Continuing to use the example from Step 2, multiply 30 by 60 to get 1800'.
- 4
  Multiply the remaining decimal value from Step 2 to obtain its minute value. Example: Multiply .92593 by 60 for an answer of 55.5558'.
- 5
  Separate the minutes from the seconds by removing the whole number from the coordinate.
  
  Example: Separate 55.5558' into 55' minutes and .5558.
- 6
  Add the minutes from Step 3 and Step 5 together to obtain the total number of minutes. Example: 1800' + 55' = 1855'.
- 7
  Include the direction to obtain your final answer. Example: Given that the direction is North and the total number of minutes is 1855, the final answer would be 1855' N.