Coordinate Parser

Intelligent geographical coordinate parser in JavaScript

Flexible algorithm to parse strings containing various latitude/longitude formats.

Usage

Coordinates = require('coordinate-parser');

position = new Coordinates('40:7:22.8N 74:7:22.8W');

latitude = position.getLatitude(); // 40.123 ✓
longitude = position.getLongitude(); // -74.123 ✓

Supported formats

• 40.123, -74.123
• 40.123° N 74.123° W
• 40° 7´ 22.8" N 74° 7´ 22.8" W
• 40° 7.38’ , -74° 7.38’
• N40°7’22.8, W74°7’22.8"
• 40°7’22.8"N, 74°7’22.8"W
• 40 7 22.8, -74 7 22.8
• 40.123 -74.123
• 40.123°,-74.123°
• 144442800, -266842800
• 40.123N74.123W
• 4007.38N7407.38W
• 40°7’22.8"N, 74°7’22.8"W
• 400722.8N740722.8W
• N 40 7.38 W 74 7.38
• 40:7:23N,74:7:23W
• 40:7:22.8N 74:7:22.8W
• 40°7’23"N 74°7’23"W
• 40°7’23" -74°7’23"
• 40d 7’ 23" N 74d 7’ 23" W
• 40.123N 74.123W
• 40° 7.38, -74° 7.38

... and others that follow a similar pattern.

Handles also the following "exotic" formats:

• 145505994.48, -268708007.88 (geographical milliseconds)
• 4025.0999N7438.4668W (DDMM.xxxx)
• 402505.994N743828.008W (DDMMSS.xxxx)

Coordinate validation

Input that does not resemble valid coordinates will throw an error.

The parser will detect invalid formats such as 40.123N FOOBAR 74.123W (invalid characters), 40.123W 74.123N (latitude/longitude exchanged) and 40.12 12.34 74.12 (odd numbers).

Flexibility towards non-alphanumeric characters and whitespaces is maintained.

isValidPosition = function(position) {
  var error;
  var isValid;
  try {
    isValid = true;
    new Coordinates(position);
    return isValid;
  } catch (error) {
    isValid = false;
    return isValid;
  }
};

isCoordinate = isValidPosition('40:7:22.8N 74:7:22.8W'); // true
isCoordinate = isValidPosition('40.123 FOOBAR! 74.123'); // false

License

God License

Credit

I originally developed this parser for WEPROG who kindly allowed me to publish the source code.