Lengths and Angles

Convert between different angle and length units and perform longitude wrapping; convert units of distances along the surface of the Earth

On a perfect sphere, the distance between points on the surface of the sphere can be represented by angles. For spherical models of the Earth, Moon, and other planetary bodies, Mapping Toolbox™ allows spherical distance conversion between common units of angles and length.

Functions

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Angle Conversion

`deg2rad`	Convert angle from degrees to radians
`rad2deg`	Convert angle from radians to degrees

`degrees2dm`	Convert degrees to degrees-minutes
`degrees2dms`	Convert degrees to degrees-minutes-seconds
`dm2degrees`	Convert degrees-minutes to degrees
`dms2degrees`	Convert degrees-minutes-seconds to degrees

`toDegrees`	Convert angles to degrees
`toRadians`	Convert angles to radians
`fromDegrees`	Convert angles from degrees
`fromRadians`	Convert angles from radians

Angle Wrapping

`wrapTo180`	Wrap angle in degrees to [-180 180]
`wrapTo360`	Wrap angle in degrees to [0 360]
`wrapToPi`	Wrap angle in radians to [−pi pi]
`wrapTo2Pi`	Wrap angle in radians to [0 2*pi]
`unwrapMultipart`	Unwrap vector of angles with NaN-delimited parts

Length Conversion

`km2nm`	Convert kilometers to nautical miles
`km2sm`	Convert kilometers to statute miles
`nm2km`	Convert nautical miles to kilometers
`nm2sm`	Convert nautical to statute miles
`sm2km`	Convert statute miles to kilometers
`sm2nm`	Convert statute to nautical miles

Spherical Distance Conversion Between Angles and Length

`deg2km`	Convert spherical distance from degrees to kilometers
`deg2nm`	Convert spherical distance from degrees to nautical miles
`deg2sm`	Convert spherical distance from degrees to statute miles
`km2deg`	Convert spherical distance from kilometers to degrees
`km2rad`	Convert spherical distance from kilometers to radians
`nm2deg`	Convert spherical distance from nautical miles to degrees
`nm2rad`	Convert spherical distance from nautical miles to radians
`rad2km`	Convert spherical distance from radians to kilometers
`rad2nm`	Convert spherical distance from radians to nautical miles
`rad2sm`	Convert spherical distance from radians to statute miles
`sm2deg`	Convert spherical distance from statute miles to degrees
`sm2rad`	Convert spherical distance from statute miles to radians

Formatted Angles, Unit Validation, Unit Conversion Factors

`str2angle`	Convert text to angles in degrees
`map.geodesy.isDegree`	True if input matches `'degree'` and false if `'radian'`
`validateLengthUnit`	Validate and standardize length unit
`unitsratio`	Unit conversion factors

Topics

Angles

Angle Representations and Angular Units

You can represent angles as a single number in degrees or radians. You can also use alternative notation and units, such as a triplet of numbers with degree-minute-second angular units.

Angles as Binary and Formatted Numbers

Angles are traditionally formatted in decimal degrees for mapping applications.

Lengths

Length and Distance Units

Linear measurements of arc lengths and distances on spheroids use the same units as on the plane, such as feet, meters, miles, and kilometers.

Compute Conversion Ratio Between Units of Length

This example shows how to create a conversion factor that facilitates conversion between units of length, such as inches to centimeters.

Spherical Distance

Distances on the Sphere

You can represent distances on the sphere using angles or linear arc lengths.

Relationship Between Points on Sphere

There are many ways to define the 2-D spatial relationship between two points on a perfect sphere, including azimuth, heading, spherical distance, linear distance, and range.

Convert from Linear Measurements to Spherical Measurements

This example shows how to convert distances along the surface of the Earth from linear units to angular units.

Mapping Toolbox Documentation

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