2024-03-26 19:04:17
If you are looking for GPS coordinates of a specific location, you can use Google Maps. It works the other way around too. How you proceed.
GPS stands for Global Positioning System and was developed by the US Department of Defense in the 1970s. Today, thanks to many satellites, the system is able to calculate a location with an accuracy of just a few meters.
In the past, positioning via GPS was primarily intended for military purposes. The process is now also used in numerous civil and private areas – for example in road traffic, aviation, local public transport or for position determination and tracking in the rescue and fire service.
The system is also used privately for location determination, navigation and route planning; almost all smartphones can receive and evaluate GPS signals. Google Maps, for example, uses GPS to enable its users to locate and calculate routes as accurately as possible.
Flashback: The History of GPS
GPS stands for Global Positioning System and was developed by the US Department of Defense in the 1970s. Today, thanks to many satellites, the system is able to calculate a location with an accuracy of just a few meters.
In the past, positioning via GPS was primarily intended for military purposes. The process is now also used in numerous civil and private areas – for example in road traffic, aviation, local public transport or for position determination and tracking in the rescue and fire service.
However, the positions and locations are usually automatically converted and displayed as an address. The program also offers the function of displaying the corresponding GPS coordinates.
Display GPS coordinates on Google Maps
Open Google Maps on your smartphone or in the browser on your PC and enter the location whose GPS coordinates you would like to display in the search field. As a rule, the map tool suggests several addresses, points or stops that you can select.
A red marker will now appear at the desired location. On your smartphone you have to hold it down for a while. The desired GPS coordinates with longitude and latitude then appear automatically in the search field.
If you are on the computer, you must click on the red marking with the right mouse button. A context menu then opens that displays the GPS coordinates you are looking for. If you click on them with the left mouse button, the coordinates will be automatically copied to the computer’s clipboard. You can then paste it elsewhere – for example in a Word document or an email.
As further options, you can use the context menu to set the marker as the start or end point for a route. If you select the menu item “What’s here?” If you click on it, Google Maps will show you information about the selected location.
Enter coordinates: Where and in what form?
The reverse case also works via the so-called reverse search: Do you have the GPS coordinates of a certain location, but don’t know where it is? To find the exact location using Google Maps, you can also use the search field in the top left corner.
First enter the coordinates of the latitude, the first number must be between -90 and 90. Next, type in the longitude coordinates, here the first number must be between -180 and 180. For example, if you enter the GPS coordinates “52.52083620588676, 13.409491485492948,” Google Maps will direct you directly to the Berlin TV Tower at Alexanderplatz.
A little tip: Be sure to use the correct spelling when entering your entry. According to the official Google Maps help center, the mapping tool accepts information in decimal degrees (DG), degrees, minutes and seconds (GMS) as well as degrees and decimal minutes (GMM).