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COGO: Converting Decimal Degrees to Degrees Minutes and Seconds – and back again (PostGIS)

It is useful to have functions for converting from individual degrees, minutes and seconds to a single decimal degree value and back again.

Here are some useful plPgSql functions.

DMS2DD

Firstly, a function to convert individual degrees, minutes and seconds values to a single decimal degree value.

 CREATE FUNCTION DMS2DD( p_dDeg IN FLOAT,
                         p_dMin IN FLOAT,
                         p_dSec IN FLOAT)
 RETURNS FLOAT
 AS
 $BODY$
 DECLARE
    v_dDD FLOAT;
 BEGIN
    v_dDD := ABS(p_dDeg) + p_dMin / 60::FLOAT + p_dSec / 3600::FLOAT;
    RETURN SIGN(p_dDeg) * v_dDD;
 END;
 $BODY$
   LANGUAGE 'plpgsql' IMMUTABLE STRICT
   COST 100;

Now for some examples….

 SELECT DMS2DD(-44,10,50);

Result:

dms2dd
-44.1805555555556 
 SELECT DMS2DD(-44,00,00);

Result:

dms2dd
-44

There is also a function, DMS2DD that takes a string input (cf Google Earth/Maps) and returns its decimal equivalent.

DD2DMS

Secondly, a function to convert a single decimal degree value to individual degrees, minutes and seconds values as a string.

 CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION DD2DMS( p_dDecDeg       IN FLOAT,
                                    p_sDegreeSymbol IN VARCHAR(1),
                                    p_sMinuteSymbol IN VARCHAR(1),
                                    p_sSecondSymbol IN VARCHAR(1) )
 RETURNS VARCHAR(50)
 AS
 $BODY$
 DECLARE
    v_iDeg INT;
    v_iMin INT;
    v_dSec FLOAT;
 BEGIN
    v_iDeg := Trunc(p_dDecDeg)::INT;
    v_iMin := Trunc(   (Abs(p_dDecDeg) - Abs(v_iDeg)) * 60)::INT;
    v_dSec := Round(((((Abs(p_dDecDeg) - Abs(v_iDeg)) * 60) - v_iMin) * 60)::NUMERIC, 3)::FLOAT;
    RETURN TRIM(to_char(v_iDeg,'9999')) || p_sDegreeSymbol::text || TRIM(to_char(v_iMin,'99')) || p_sMinuteSymbol::text ||
           CASE WHEN v_dSec = 0::FLOAT THEN '0' ELSE REPLACE(TRIM(to_char(v_dSec,'99.999')),'.000','') END || p_sSecondSymbol::text;
 END;
 $BODY$
   LANGUAGE 'plpgsql' IMMUTABLE STRICT
   COST 100;

Some examples.

 SELECT DD2DMS(-44,'d','m','s');

Result:

dd2dms
-44d0m0s 
 SELECT DD2DMS(-44.5,'d','m','s');

Result:

dd2dms
-44d30m0s 
 SELECT DD2DMS(-44.577,'d','m','s');

Result:

dd2dms
-44d34m37.200s 
 SELECT DD2DMS(gis.DMS2DD(-44,10,50),'d','s','"');

Result:

dd2dms
-44d10s50”

DD2DMST

But what if I only want the individual degrees, minutes and seconds values from a decimal degree value?

This can be done in a number of ways eg writing three functions to extract each individual value. But the way I will do it is via a TYPE and a single function.

 CREATE TYPE DMS AS (
    degree INT,
    MINUTE INT,
    SECOND FLOAT
 );
 -- Function
 --
 CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION DD2DMST( p_dDecDeg IN FLOAT )
 RETURNS DMS
 AS
 $BODY$
 DECLARE
    v_dms  DMS;
 BEGIN
    v_dms.degree := Trunc(p_dDecDeg)::INT;
    v_dms.MINUTE := Trunc(   (Abs(p_dDecDeg) - Abs(v_dms.degree)) * 60)::INT;
    v_dms.SECOND := Round(((((Abs(p_dDecDeg) - Abs(v_dms.degree)) * 60) - v_dms.MINUTE) * 60)::NUMERIC, 3)::FLOAT;
    RETURN v_dms;
 END;
 $BODY$
   LANGUAGE 'plpgsql' IMMUTABLE STRICT
   COST 100;

Some examples.

 SELECT DD2DMST(-44);

Result:

dd2dmst
(-44,0,0) 
 SELECT (DD2DMST(-44.5)).*;

Result:

degree minute second
-44 30 0 
 SELECT degree,MINUTE,SECOND FROM (SELECT (DD2DMST(-44.577)).* ) AS a;

Result:

degree minute second
-44 34 37.2 
 SELECT DD2DMST(DMS2DD(-44,10,50));

Result:

dd2dmst
(-44,10,50)

I hope these are useful to someone.