Mikkel Grum wrote:
I receive GPS readings in a text string such as
"0121.6723S 03643.6893E" and need the coordinates as
decimal degrees in two separate variables: "-1.361205"
and "36.728155".  How do I do this in R?

you'd use some string processing functions, like strsplit, nchar, maybe grep and regexp, to build a function like this:


convertCoord <- function(coordString){
  bits <- strsplit(coordString," ")
  lat <- bits[[1]][1]
  lon <- bits[[1]][2]

  mdCon <- function(mdstring){
    d <- as.numeric(substr(mdstring,1,2))
    m <- as.numeric(substr(mdstring,3,99))/60
    return(d+m)
  }

  latD <- mdCon(substr(lat,1,nchar(lat)-1))
  latSign <- ifelse(substr(lat,nchar(lat),nchar(lat))=="N",1,-1)
  lonD <- mdCon(substr(lon,1,nchar(lon)-1))
  lonSign <- ifelse(substr(lon,nchar(lon),nchar(lon))=="E",1,-1)

  c(lonD*lonSign, latD*latSign)

}

 - this works for the single test case you've given us:

> convertCoord("0121.6723S 03643.6893E")
[1] 13.728155 -1.361205

- but lots of assumptions are coded into my function. Any deviation from that precise format will break it!

 Anyway, that should give you an idea.

Baz

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