Whether you want to quickly add a waypoint to your GPS, or view a map of a known location, it can often be convenient to use real latitude and longitude values with Google Maps instead of dealing with street addresses.
Rerieving a map for a lat/lon value is simple enough with Google Maps. You can simply enter the decimal latitude and longitude into the search form instead of a street address.
However, if you’re viewing a map and you want to retrieve the lat/lon location, there unfortunately isn’t a convenient “get latitude and longitude” button. Google Maps deals with latitude and longitude locations internally, though, so with this little snippet of javascript, you can easily get the job done:
javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter())
This will return the coordinates of the map’s center point. You might want to double-click a position on the map before running the above code. Doing so will reposition that point to the center of the map automatically.
Get Latitude and Longitude values from Google Maps – [via] Link
14 thoughts on “HOWTO: use latitude and longitude with Google Maps”
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Great tip, but why the I-35W bridge?
Great tip, but why the I-35W bridge?
@ltt: You’re kidding, right?
http://www.cnn.com
An easier method that doesn’t require javascript (though may be [u]slightly[/u] less accurate) is to simply right-click on the area of the map you’re interested in and click the “Directions to here” option. If you don’t have a starting point already on the map, it will fill in the endpoint above with the location followed by the lat/lon (i.e., Anywhere,TX@xx.xxxxxx, yy.yyyyyy).
Thanks ltt. Regarding the 35W Mississippi bridge — I live in Minneapolis and was seeing if Google’s map had been updated. It seemed like an appropriate and topical location which doesn’t have a street address, but that a person might want to locate.
For those who didn’t hear about this, the bridge completely collapsed during a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam Wednesday and, thankfully, the vast majority of drivers managed to walk away after plummeting 70 feet into the river.
Here’s a good photo gallery if you’re insterested – Link
@ neilbert: I was fully aware of the bridge collapse when I posted my previous comment. It was no joke. Thats why I asked. I live near the Twin Cities, and lived in Minneapolis for a short time years ago. The tragedy is close to my heart as well. I was simply wondering why there was no other explanation as to why that location was chosen.
@ jason_striegel: Thanks for clearing it up though.
…also just click on the “link to this page” the Lat and Long show up in the link… in several different formats.