Thanks to Google Maps we can find the destination for any travel destination, without making use of the old maps (difficult to use if we do not know the basics of geography). We were still very attached to the ways of the past and we want to find the coordinates of a place on Google Maps, so that we can provide them to our friends and relatives "> Google Chrome for the purpose). After connecting the computer, we open the favorite brower, we visit the Google Maps web page. The browser will ask whether to allow access to the position, we answer in the affirmative in order to achieve our purpose. Immediately after the authorization the map of the place where we are will be loaded, with a blue dot to indicate our current position on the map (with a good degree of approximation). In order to obtain the geographical coordinates of the place where we are currently with the computer, we right-click on the blue dot and select the item What is here?
After selecting this item we will see a small window appear at the bottom, with indications on the city or place where we are and the relative geographical coordinates .
Obviously we can obtain the coordinates of any other place, without necessarily being physically present there! To do this, click with the left mouse button on any point of the map generated by Google Maps (let's use the mouse wheel to change the zoom level), then press again on the placeholder that will appear, so as to immediately obtain the geographical coordinates requests.
How to find the coordinates from smartphone
If we look for precise coordinates of the place where we are, we can use our faithful smartphone, which thanks to GPS will always be able to precisely indicate the geographical coordinates. First, make sure Google Maps is installed on our mobile device ; it is available for free for Android and iOS.After starting the Google app of the maps, we provide permissions to access the location of the device, then we check for the presence of the blue dot on the map, that is our current position; to know the coordinates of our current position, all we have to do is keep the finger pressed at the blue point, until the red placeholder appears. The geographical coordinates will automatically appear in the top search bar, so that we can use them for our purposes; if we want to share it on social networks or in chat, we click below on Share immediately after setting the red placeholder.
Obviously we can place the placeholder anywhere on the map, as already seen from the PC: we navigate the map with our finger and change the zoom by pinching the two fingers on the screen; once we have found the point whose coordinates we want to know, we hold down until the placeholder with the coordinates is generated .
How to enter coordinates in Google Maps
If, on the other hand, we have the coordinates and we want to find out the place to which they are assigned, simply open the Google Maps site or download one of the already recommended apps and enter the coordinates in the search bar Search on Google Maps .
If we have never used geographic coordinates before, here is the information that will be useful for understanding the numbers typed in the upper part of the bar:
- Latitude : it is the first number that is entered as a coordinate and represents the angular distance of a point from the equator. Precisely by virtue of this we can have North Latitude and South Latitude, even if conventionally it is not specified in the coordinates because "simplified" with the addition of the mathematical sign "minus" (if the coordinate is positive, it is located in the North of the equator, while if the coordinate is negative it is South of the equator).
- Longitude : they are the second number inserted in the coordinate after the comma and represent the angular distance from the reference meridian 0 (Greenwich meridian). With it we can therefore have we can have East Longitude and West Longitude, even if conventionally it is not specified in the coordinates because it is "simplified" with the addition of the mathematical sign "minus" (if the coordinate is positive, it is located east of the reference meridian, while if the coordinate is negative it is West of it).
The union of these two information (expressed in degrees, minutes of degree and seconds of degree) will allow us to know the exact geographical position of any point on the planet .
Conclusions
As we have seen, obtaining the coordinates of any point on the earth is very simple using Google Maps! Knowing the coordinates can be a valuable aid when we want to share the location with friends, since we will obtain very high precision from Maps (especially when we use the smartphone).If we are looking for apps and sites alternative to Google Maps for navigation and to find the coordinates, we advise you to read our guide on the Best apps and sites of maps alternative to Google Maps . If, on the other hand, we want to continue using Maps even when we do not have an Internet connection (and still obtain the coordinates), we can read our in-depth article on how to download Google Maps and save maps to print .
