function lonDecDeg = lonDDM2DD(lonDDM, lonHemi)
  fields = split(lonDDM, '.');
  a = convertStringsToChars(fields);
  minChars = a{1}(end-1:end);
  degChars = a{1}(1:end-2);
  lonDecDeg = str2double(degChars) + (str2double(minChars)/60.0) + (str2double("." + a(2))/60.0);
  if(lonHemi == "W")
      lonDecDeg = -1.0 * lonDecDeg;
  end
end

