Calculating number of degrees of longitude and latitude between points at same latitude on map?

Question

I'm working on a project that use Google maps and i want to know: Giving 2 points with same latitude but with different longitudes, how can i calculate the distance between them in terms of longitude degrees?

For example, how can we calculate how far point 1 from point 2 in longitude degrees, the latitude degrees will be 0 since they are at the same latitude line.

I know how to calculate distance in kilometers, meters.

• mkennedy: Do you have Web Mercator coordinates (with y1 = y2) and want to calculate the two lat-lon coordinates of the points?

Answer 1

If the two points are at the same latitude then the "distance" between them in "longitude degrees" will be the number of degrees between their longitudes.

This will be true no matter which software or Geographic Coordinate System you are using, as long as both points are specified using the same Geographic Coordinate System.

As commented by @Jon, if your longitudes are in degrees, minutes and seconds (DMS) then the formula for converting them to decimal degrees (DD) is:

decimal_degrees = degrees + minutes/60 + seconds/3600