How to Find GPS Coordinates on Any Device

The first number is latitude (north–south, −90 to 90). The second is longitude (east–west, −180 to 180). Positive latitude is north of the equator, negative is south; positive longitude is east of Greenwich, negative is west. Five decimals is roughly one metre of precision — enough for any navigation.

1. Open Google Maps in your browser.
2. Right-click the exact spot on the map.
3. The first row of the menu shows the coordinates — click them to copy.
4. Alternatively, read them from the address bar: the URL contains @lat,lng,zoom.

1. Open the Google Maps app.
2. Press and hold anywhere on the map to drop a red pin.
3. The coordinates appear in the search box at the top.
4. Tap the card at the bottom, then Share to send them to someone.

1. Open Google Maps and press and hold to drop a pin.
2. Swipe up on the place card at the bottom of the screen.
3. The coordinates are listed under the address — tap to copy.
4. In Apple Maps, drop a pin the same way and scroll the place card down to the coordinates.

Tap the blue dot in Google Maps and choose the place card to see your device's coordinates. On desktop, click the crosshair button first so the map centres on you, then right-click the blue dot.

Paste the pair — decimal degrees separated by a comma, such as 59.32938, 18.06871 — into the Google Maps search box and press Enter. Degrees-minutes-seconds also works if you type it as 59°19'45.8"N 18°04'07.4"E.

• Swapping latitude and longitude — latitude always comes first.
• Dropping the minus sign, which flips the point to the other hemisphere.
• Using a comma as the decimal separator; use a period.
• Rounding to two decimals, which can be off by more than a kilometre.

Roamy generates a random set of coordinates near you or inside an area you describe, and opens it straight in Google Maps. Randomize a Roaming target and practise reading the numbers on a place you have never been.