mrking

I have a form where you can enter coordinates (values that get written to my MySQL database) in the format of N49 26.222 W122 35.222. We use that format for our group as it is a standard for marking waypoints. Now I am coding some php to plot the MySQL data into a google map API. Everything works great with my test database as I have the coordinate values of 49.437033, -122.587033 Now before I set up the database for that style of coords I tested it with writing data to it using my two variable $latitude and $longitude. All worked well. But, I now need an intermediate php function that will take the input form data coords of N49 26.222 W122 35.222 convert them to decimal format, 49.437033, -122.587033 and then upload the converted coords to the database. I have no idea where to start. Can anyone give me a hand? Cheers, mike