function degy(s)

% puts degrees and E/W or N/S signs on the x axis
% degx(s) s is an optional string if s==[] puts N/S instead of E/W

if nargin==0, 
 s1='N'; s2='S';
else
 s1='E'; s2='W';
end

ytn=get(gca,'YTick');
yts=get(gca,'YTickLabel');
yts2=num2str(abs(str2num(yts)));
yts2=[yts2 yts2(:,1) yts2(:,1)]; % 2 dummy columns for degree and N/S
[my,ny]=size(yts2);

for i=1:my,
 if(str2num(yts(i,:))>0),
  yts2(i,:)=[yts2(i,1:ny-2) char(176) s1];
 elseif(str2num(yts(i,:))<0),
  yts2(i,:)=[yts2(i,1:ny-2) char(176) s2];
 else
  yts2(i,:)=[yts2(i,1:ny-2) char(176) ' '];
 end 
end

set(gca,'YTickMode','manual');
set(gca,'YTick',ytn);
set(gca,'YTickLabelMode','manual');
set(gca,'YTickLabel',yts2);