NAME Geo::Coordinates::DecimalDegrees - convert between degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees SYNOPSIS use Geo::Coordinates::DecimalDegrees; (degrees, $minutes, $seconds) = decimal2dms($decimal_degrees); $decimal_degrees = dms2decimal($degrees, $minutes, $seconds); DESCRIPTION Latitudes and longitudes are most often presented in two common formats: decimal degrees, and degrees, minutes and seconds. There are 60 minutes in a degree, and 60 seconds in a minute. In decimal degrees, the minutes and seconds are presented as a fractional number of degrees. For example, 1 degree 30 minutes is 1.5 degrees, and 30 minutes 45 seconds is 0.5125 degrees. This module provides functions for converting between these two formats. FUNCTIONS This module provides the following functions, which are all exported by default when you call "use Geo::Coordinates::DecimalDegrees;". decimal2dms($decimal_degrees) Converts a floating point number of degrees to the equivalent number of degrees, minutes, and seconds, which are returned as a 3-element list. Typically used as follows: ($degrees, $minutes, $seconds) = decimal2dms($decimal_degrees); If $decimal_degrees is negative, only $degrees will be negative. $minutes and $seconds will always be positive. dms2decimal($degrees, $minutes, $seconds) Converts degrees, minutes, and seconds to the equivalent number of decimal degrees: $decimal_degrees = dms2decimal($degrees, $minutes, $seconds); If $degrees is negative, then $decimal_degrees will also be negative. CAVEATS The functions don't do any sanity checks on their arguments. If you have a good reason to convert 61 minutes -101 seconds to decimal, go right ahead. AUTHOR Walt Mankowski, COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Copyright 2003 by Walt Mankowski This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.