In this day of Global Positioning Systems, computers and the Internet, it has never been so easy to know your exact position on the planet, down to a few feet. Such precision is rarely necessary for real life, except perhaps for those folks who has lost the ability to read a map, or who don’t have the energy to call ahead and ask for directions.
But knowing your precise geographical coordinates can be useful, especially in astronomy. If, for instance, you want to look for Iridium satellites, or you are timing occultations of stars and planets by the moon, knowing your precise location is essential.
Unfortunately, not all of us have handheld GPS devices or such electronics built into our cell phones or cars. Almost everyone has a computer, though, and while you might not be able to carry it on a long trip or always be able to find a Wifi “hotspot,” there are plenty of ways online to pinpoint your exact position.
First and foremost there are GoogleMaps and Google Earth. Generally speaking, it’s enough just to type your address in and Google Earth will give you the coordinates, but there’s just a little more to do when you are using GoogleMaps:
Go to GoogleMaps (maps.google.com) and enter your address. Wait for the map of your location to show, then hit “Link to this page” and copy out the URL from the address bar. The geographic coordinates of the location will be embedded in the URL.
Here is an example with the coordinates for the new Community College of Aurora (CCA) Observatory:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=39.717381,-104.80412 … (extraneous
material in the URL removed.)
The observatory coordinates are 39.717381 North Latitude and 104.80412 West Longitude. (North latitude is positive, although the “+” sign normally is left out, and west longitude is negative.) These are in decimal degrees. Note that some webpages and other resources, including iTouchMap.com below, will give coordinates with many more decimal places. However, as far as non-military GPS and online map tools go, 5 decimal places is about the limit of reason.
The CCA observatory is on the CentreTech Campus of the Community College of Aurora in Aurora, Colorado, and is so new that at the time of this writing it has not yet been dedicated, and the Google image just shows a barren parcel of ground!
Here’s another site that uses Google Maps and lets you zoom in on your location, as well as where to point your satelite dish: Satellite Signals.
If you use a Wifi enabled laptop with Firefox and Windows XP or later, Loki great piece of free software that turns your computer into a “virtual GPS device.” Unfortunately it does not appear to work with Firefox 3.0, but there is a Mac version and one for Windows Mobile.
Thanks to Google, there are so many many other Firefox add-ons that it is bewildering. Another one I really like — and frankly use more often than Loki — is Mini Map Tabs. It works on all versions of Firefox. Just type in an address, or pan and zoom to a location on the map. The geographical coordinates of that location appear in the upper right corner of the map.
If you already are reasonably good with maps, go to EarthTools (www.earthtools.org). Pick your coutry (e.g. United States of America) in the box near the top of the left column, click on “Find Places,” and then enter your city (e.g., Austin, Texas). It will give you Austins all over the place (!), but Austin, Texas should be the first listed. It gives Austin’s coordinates as 33.7243°N 97.7344°W (5th and Congress). Recenter the image and zoom in, then find your street address on the resulting map. Double click on your location (on the map) to center it. The geographic coordinates are displayed in the left-hand menu page.
Note that the latitude and longitude are given in decimal degrees, rather than the traditional “minutes” and “seconds.” This is generally easier to deal with and useful in most situations. However, some applications may ask for the latitude and longitude in the degrees, minutes, seconds format.
And for the map geek in all of us, try iTouchMap.com, but don’t get carried away!
Finally, this is of course Earth & Sky, so we shouldn’t forget to mention Google Sky. Cool!
So, where are you?
I’m lost.
I am in Netherland
Yes, and apparently there are many more in LaLa Land and the Land of Oz (as in Ozzie O.).
Hey’s here’s something else. It works in Firefox but I haven’t tried it in IE. Clikc on Bookmarks, Organize Bookmarks, New Bookmark. Then add the give the new bookmark the name “Coordinates” (or whatever), and add the following as the location:
javascript:void(prompt(”,gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));
Then go to Google Maps and center some location you are interested in. Finally, click the new Coordinates bookmark and a box will pop-up with the coordinates of that spot. Cool!
LS