On 24 Jan 2006 13:47:42 -0800, "student" wrote:

thanks! an example of a north latitude coordinate (contained in one
cell) is:

32* 35' 19"

I need to find a dependable routine for converting this type of data to
decimal degrees.


Assuming your example is consistent, then:

=MID(A1,FIND("'",A1)+2,2)/3600+MID(A1,
FIND(" ",A1)+1,2)/60+LEFT(A1,FIND("*",A1)-1)

If your example is not consistent, we will need to see all the variations.

Consistent means:

1. The "degrees" is terminated by an asterisk
2. The "minutes" follows the first <space and is terminated by a single
quote, and always contains two digits (e.g. 07' and not 7')
3. The "seconds" follows the <quote<space and is always two digits.

If the format is not consistent, other solutions can easily be derived.


--ron