Free tool
Bearing and angle converter
Convert an angle or bearing between decimal degrees, degrees-minutes-seconds, DD.MMSS survey notation, quadrant bearings, gradians and radians.
DD.MMSS means 45.3012 is 45 degrees 30 minutes 12 seconds, not 45.3012 degrees. For quadrant bearings, write the angle in degrees minutes seconds, for example N 45 30 12 E. Add a minus sign for a negative angle (not for quadrant bearings).
Method and limits
- One full circle is 360 degrees, 400 gradians and 2 pi radians. Seconds are rounded to two decimal places for display only.
- The quadrant bearing is worked out from the normalised bearing (0 to 360 degrees clockwise from north). A bearing exactly on an axis shows as, for example, N 0 00 00.00 E.
- Minutes or seconds of 60 or more are rejected rather than carried over, so a typing slip is not silently converted to a different angle.
- Checked by writing 5,000 random angles out as degrees-minutes-seconds and DD.MMSS and reading them back: the largest difference was under 0.005 seconds, which is the display rounding.
- This tool is a convenience, not a survey deliverable. Check results against your own work, and use certified methods for anything you sign off. Provided as is, in line with the terms. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.