Quadrant Bearing Converter

How it is calculated

An azimuth is an angle measured clockwise from north, from 0° to 360°. A quadrant bearing instead gives an acute angle from north or south toward east or west. The tool picks the quadrant from the azimuth A: for 0° ≤ A < 90° it gives N A °E; for 90° ≤ A < 180° it gives S (180 − A) °E; for 180° ≤ A < 270° it gives S (A − 180) °W; for 270° ≤ A < 360° it gives N (360 − A) °W. It also returns the quadrant name and the azimuth to two decimals, with 360° shown as 0°. Values below 0 or above 360 give no result. On the four cardinal directions the result is written in this same pattern, for instance 90° appears as S90.00°E and 180° as S0.00°W.

Common mistakes

• Reading N30°E as 30° from east. In a quadrant bearing the first letter (N or S) is the reference and the angle is measured from that line toward the second letter.
• Using the wrong subtraction in the south-west and north-west quadrants. In SW you subtract 180 from the azimuth; in NW you subtract the azimuth from 360.
• Entering a negative azimuth or one above 360, such as 400 or −45. The tool accepts only 0 to 360, so add or subtract 360 yourself first.
• Typing degrees, minutes and seconds in one field. The input is decimal degrees, so 35°30′ must be entered as 35.5.
• Assuming the bearing is relative to magnetic north. The conversion is purely geometric and does not apply any declination between true, grid and magnetic north.