Formatting columns for Lat-Long

[Mike]

How do I format a column or cell for entering Latitude & Longitude data.
Most of the data I have is degrees, minutes & seconds "nn°nn.nnn" North
Latitude by "nnn°.nn.nnn" West?

 

[Rick Rothstein]

You can format the columns without using programming. Select your column and
click Format/Cells on Excel's menu bar, select Custom from the Category list
and copy/paste the following into the Type field...

[h]°m's\"

You can produce the degree symbol on your own if you would like type the
above in yourself by holding down the Alt key and keying in 0176 on the
Number Pad of your keyboard.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I forgot to mention... your entries will need to be entered as time values;
for example, enter 123°45'56" as 123:45:56.

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)

You can format the columns without using programming. Select your column
and click Format/Cells on Excel's menu bar, select Custom from the
Category list and copy/paste the following into the Type field...

[h]°m's\"

You can produce the degree symbol on your own if you would like type the
above in yourself by holding down the Alt key and keying in 0176 on the
Number Pad of your keyboard.

 

[Joel]

Copy the line below to Format - Cells - Number - Custom and place line in box
at top of Form.

00°00.000

 

[Chip Pearson]

Select the cell, go to the Edit menu, choose Cells, and then the
Number tab. Select Custom in the list on the left and enter the
following format:

[h]ºmm'ss\"

To get the degree sign, hold down the ALT key and enter 0186 on the
numeric keypad (to the right of the keys, NOT the numbers above the
letters).

Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
The San Diego Project Group, LLC
(email is on the web site)
USA Central Daylight Time (-5:00 GMT)

 

[Rick Rothstein]

To get the degree sign, hold down the ALT key and enter 0186 on the

numeric keypad (to the right of the keys, NOT the numbers above the
letters).

Hmm! I posted the same message as you did, but I instructed the OP to use
Alt+0176 instead of Alt+0186. They both look like degree symbols to me, but
one seems to display the circle a little higher up than the other. Do you
know what (beside the height thing) is the difference between these two
symbols? Is one of them a degree sign and the other a something else (and if
a something else, what)?

 

[Jon Peltier]

I've always used Alt+0176. The other always seemed to make too small a
circle.

- Jon

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Your comment prompted me to test both of them side by side. Actually,
Alt+0186 makes the larger circle (I bumped the font size up to 48 to examine
them); that is the difference I didn't notice earlier... one is not higher
than the other, only larger (the top of both symbols are located at the same
height position; it was the size difference that made one look like it was
higher than the other one).

As it turns out, though, neither one of them is exactly the right one to
use.<g> The symbol produced from Alt+0176 is the same height as the
apostrophe and quote mark symbols, but its line thickness is just ever so
slightly little thinner than them. On the other hand, the symbol produced
from Alt+186 is larger than the apostrophe and quote mark (about 25% so) and
its line thickness is just ever so slightly heavier. At normal font sizes, I
kind of think Alt+0176 looks a little bit better (but that is a highly
subjective opinion).

 

[Jon Peltier]

Rick -

It was a long time ago I settled on 0176, so I don't recall the details. I
was probably using a different font, one I never use anymore, and I'm sure
that also makes a difference.

- Jon

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Yeah, that's a good point... I only looked at Arial font.

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)

Rick -

It was a long time ago I settled on 0176, so I don't recall the details. I
was probably using a different font, one I never use anymore, and I'm sure
that also makes a difference.

- Jon