How to Convert Miles to Latitude Constants

Changes in latitude measure changes in distance between a position and the equator.

Miles work well for measuring the distance between two locations, but do not readily give a sense of the distance traveled across the face of the globe. For centuries, navigators and cartographers have used latitude and longitude to find points on Earth. Latitude in particular plots a position between the equator and the north or south pole. Changes in latitude are measured in degrees, minutes and seconds, and distances in miles can be converted to these constants if you know the number of miles in one degree.

Instructions

1. Divide the number of miles by 69.1 to calculate the number of degrees. For example, 1,000 miles divided by 69.1 equals 14.472 degrees

2. Multiply the decimal remainder by 60 to calculate the number of minutes. For example, 0.472 degrees multiplied by 60 equals 28.307 minutes.

3. Multiply this remainder by 60 to calculate the number of seconds. Completing this example, 0.307 minutes multiplied by 60 equals 18.408 seconds. Therefore, 1,000 miles converts to 14 degrees, 28 minutes and 18.4 seconds of latitude.

Tips & Warnings

• Minutes and seconds of latitude are also known as minutes and seconds of arc, or arcminutes and arcseconds.

• Because the Earth is flat at the poles and bulges at the equator, degrees of latitude are not the same at the poles as at the equator. The value of 69.1 miles per degree is an approximate conversion.

References

• Meridian World Data: Distance Calculation
• BIPM: Non-SI Units Accepted for Use with the SI, and Units Based on Fundamental Constants
• Worldatlas: Quickly Find the Latitude and Longitude

Resources

• NOAA: Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculator