Mapping Toolbox

deg2km, deg2nm, deg2sm

Convert distance from degrees to kilometers, nautical miles, or statute miles

Syntax

• distout = deg2km(distin)
  distout = deg2km(distin,radius)
  
  distout = deg2nm(distin)
  distout = deg2nm(distin,radius)
  
  distout = deg2sm(distin)
  distout = deg2sm(distin,radius)
  

Description

distout = deg2km(distin) converts the input distance given in degrees to kilometers.

distout = deg2nm(distin)and distout = deg2sm(distin)work identically, except that the output units are nautical miles and statute miles, respectively.

distout = deg2km(distin,radius)specifies the radius of the sphere to use, since a degree of arc length covers less distance, for example, on Mars than it would on the Earth. You can enter the radius as a number in kilometers, as a call to the almanac function (e.g., almanac('mars','radius','km')), again in the appropriate units, or you can pass in a string planet name (e.g., 'mars'), and the function will make the appropriate call to the almanac function. The radius of the Earth is the default.

For distout = deg2nm(distin,radius)and distout = deg2sm(distin,radius), make sure your input radius is in the appropriate units, or just use the planet name string.

Examples

A degree of arc length is about 60 nautical miles:

• deg2nm(1)
  ans =
     60.0405
  

This is not true on Mercury, of course:

• deg2nm(1,'mercury')
  ans =
     22.9852
  

See Also

deg2rad	Convert degrees to radians
distdim	Convert distance units
nm2km sm2deg	Other direct distance conversion functions

deg2dms, deg2dm

deg2rad