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Find geographical coordinates using Google Maps
Joor Loohuis,
May 10, 2009,
15031 views.
There are occasions where you need accurate geographical coordinates of a location, for example for putting a marker on a map. Assuming you don't have a GPS receiver handy, or the location you're interested in isn't around the corner, finding coordinates can be a pain. Fortunately, Google Maps provides a little tool that will help you find coordinates for any location you can display on a map.
Tags: geo, Google maps, microformats, web
NB: Google has added new features to Google maps, so finding coordinates is now even easier.
There are various reasons why you would want to know accurate geographical coordinates of a location. One obvious application is to put a marker on a Google Map, another is that you want to add microformats to a webpage. The problem is that if you don't have a GPS receiver available, or the location you want the location for is not closeby, you will have to resort to other ways of obtaning the coordinates. Fortunately, Thomas Duebendorfer has written a simple addition to Google Maps that will do exactly what you need, and more.
How to find coordinates in a few simple steps
- Add Position Finder to your Google Maps.
- Go to Google Maps, and select 'My maps'.
- There should be a map named 'Position Finder'. Select it, and a panel will appear with some options.
- Zoom the map so that the location you're interested in is visible in sufficient detail.
- Click 'Show Address' in the Position Finder panel.
- Now click the map on the location you want to know. You should now see the lattitude and longitude of the location.
Depending on the application, you may need to increase the accuracy of the coordinates by changing the display format.
References
- Position Finder, written by Thomas Duebendorfer (no longer available).
- Instructions on finding coordinates with functions built into Google Maps.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License.
