How do I find a location’s latitude and longitude coordinates?

The rWAVES data import tool had the built-in capability of geocoding an address to determine and map the latitude and longitude GPS coordinates of a place. There are times however when you may want to import using the latitude and longitude coordinates directly.

Get the coordinates of a place on Android

Steps

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app.
  2. Touch and hold an area of the map that isn’t labeled. You’ll see a red pin appear.
  3. You’ll see the coordinates in the search box at the top.

Get the coordinates of a place on a PC

You can find the latitude and longitude GPS coordinates of a place using Google Maps.

Steps

  1. On your computer, open Google Maps
  2. In the search box at the top, type your address: 
  3. You’ll see a pin show up on the map at your address.   Right-click the place or area on the map.
  4. Select What’s here?:
  5. At the bottom, you’ll see a card with the latitude and longitude coordinates. Click on them:
  6. You can now copy the latitude and longitude coordinates from the Google Map search box:

For UK Locations

If you a mapping a location in the UK and know the post code of that location, you can use this handy converter tool. This also allows you to convert post codes to latitude and longitude coordinates in bulk: https://gridreferencefinder.com/postcodeBatchConverter/

Tips for formatting your coordinates for use in rWAVES

Here are some tips for formatting your coordinates so they work on rWAVES:

  1. Use periods as decimals, not commas:
    • Incorrect: 41,40338, 2,17403.
    • Correct: 41.40338, 2.17403.
  2. List your latitude coordinates before longitude coordinates.
  3. Check that the first number in your latitude coordinate is between -90 and 90.
  4. Check that the first number in your longitude coordinate is between -180 and 180.

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