So, you’ve thought of going somewhere?
Want to get the coordinates to an area you always wanted to explore?
Or maybe you’ve just found a lovely hotspot somewhere that you’d like to revisit some other time or share with others?
Whether it’s a small neighboring town or a major destination abroad, you want to make sure that you know your destination.
It doesn’t matter if you’re doing the trip on a Honda CRF 250 or a huge Honda GoldWing; if you don’t have a destination in mind, you’ll just be riding around aimlessly.
But perhaps you don’t know how to retrieve the exact GPS coordinates for your location? This is where a GPS service like Google Maps can be a great assistance tool.
Getting the exact GPS coordinates is a lot easier than you might think – whether you’re using the Google Maps app on your phone or on a desktop or laptop computer, this approach takes no more than a minute per destination.
In this blog post, you’ll learn:
- Why you should get GPS coordinates in the first place
- How to get Google Maps GPS coordinates – on both computers and smartphones
- How to save your destinations for future use
- How to create and share lists of your destinations
- How to embed an HTML Google maps on your website
But why get GPS coordinates at all?
You might be sceptical about getting a sequence of digits. Wouldn’t it be smoother to just write down the name of the street?
Well, if you’re riding abroad, you might have trouble finding the right street if you’re unfamiliar with the local language. Or worse – what if you’re riding in a country where the writing system is vastly different from the one you’re used to?
Say, for instance, that you’re riding in Japan. Unless you know how to read Japanese, do you know how to read this sign?
Furthermore, if someone told you the name of the street, would you know how to write it down?
Furthermore, you might find that there are many streets with the same name in different places. There are even places with the same name (for example, there’s two cities named “Gothenburg”, one in the European country of Sweden, and one in the American state of Nebraska).
Here’s another one – where’s “Liverpool”? In the UK? You’re right, but there’s also a Liverpool in New South Wales, Australia.
If you’re not careful, you might get directions to the wrong location.
Finally, you need to actually find a street sign, as well as the street number, which can be more work than it’s worth – especially if you’re out in the wilderness where there are few if any street signs around.
By getting the GPS coordinates to the location, you can be sure that you’re getting the right location.
The numerical digits are also fairly standard across the board – everyone who has a cell phone uses these digits regularly.
And it’s much easier to do than you might think – all you need is Google Maps.
Getting Google Maps GPS Coordinates – Browser version
1: Go to Google Maps
2: Move your mouse cursor over the location that you’d like to visit, and right-click
3: In the drop-down menu that appears, select the GPS coordinates at the top – this will copy them to your clipboard.
Google Maps GPS Coordinates – Mobile App Version
1: Open the Google Maps app on your phone
2: Touch and hold your finger on an area of the map that you’d like to visit.
3: After the red pin appears, the GPS coordinates to the location will appear in the search box at the top
Find The GPS Coordinates For Your Current Location
If you’re already out and about and would like to know your current destination, click on the “crosshairs” symbol, and you should see your current destination on the map (requires a connection to the Internet):
In addition, there’s also a great Android app called “Send My Location” which not only gives you the GPS coordinates to your current location but also lets you share them with others easily.
For more information, head over to Google Play.
I’ve got the coordinates, now what?
Once you’ve got the coordinates, it’s advised that you save the location in a list. Google Maps has an amazing option that lets you create lists of destinations that you can save and access on any device – all you need is to be logged in to your Google Account.
How to Create a Destination List in Google Maps:
1: Select the destination you want to save
2: Click/press the “Save” button
3: Click on “New List,” and give the name a list and description
4: Select whether you want the list to be “Private” or “Shared” (app version only).
List status:
A Google Maps list can have one of three statuses:
- Private – destinations in this list will only be accessible to you
- Shared – destinations in this list can be viewed and/or edited by people who have the link
- Public – your list will appear publicly in Google – along with your profile name and photo.
If you want to be the only one who can edit and view this list, select “Private.” If you want to share the list with other people, select “Shared.”
How to Add a Destination to Already Existing List:
1: Select the destination in question and click on “Save”
2: In the menu that appears, select a previous list you’ve created
Well done; your destination is now on the list!
How to Embed a HTML Map on Your Website
Sometimes, you might want to share an HTML map on your website or blog.
Maybe you’d like to share a destination you found with the rest of the world?
Thankfully, you don’t need to know squat about HTML coding to do this:
1: Open the browser version of Google Maps and find the destination in question
2: In the information tab that appears, click on “Share”
3: In the “Share” window that appears, click on the tab marked “Embed a map”
4: Select the desired size of your map, and click on the “COPY HTML” button
5: Paste the HTML code onto your webpage
By now, it should look something like this:
Getting the exact GPS coordinates for your next trip isn’t as difficult as it seems. When you know what you’re doing, and above all where you’re going, things are so much easier.
