Jump to content

New Google Maps lat/long tools


Wintertime

Recommended Posts

In case I'm not the only one who still uses Google Maps (although I do use Google Earth occasionally)...

 

I just discovered two new tools that allow you to see the latitude and longitude of any place on Google Maps. Here are their descriptions:

 

LatLng Tooltip: Displays a tooltip next to the mouse cursor showing the latlng directly underneath it.

 

LatLng Marker: Adds an option to the context menu that lets you drop a mini marker showing the latlng of the position that the cursor was pointing at when the context menu was evoked

 

To activate them, click on "New" next to the Help and Sign in links, then click Enable from the popup window that appears. You don't need to activate the tooltip in order to use just the marker.

 

The tooltip will appear immediately. The marker, as the description notes, is accessible from a contextual menu. On a Mac, you can see that menu by holding down the Control button while clicking the mouse.

 

The lat and long are presented in decimal-degree format. I don't see any option to change that, but of course once you have the numbers you can convert them elsewhere.

 

Patty

Link to comment

Thanks, Patty! I just tried it and it works very well. This will be very handy, because I use coordinates to load my GPS units.

 

Another interesting tool is found within the MORE tab. Click "Photos" and you will get a perspective which is a little different from "street view".

 

For a sample, go to Laurinburg, NC and look for tiny squares at various places on the map. They are geographically correct--having been uploaded based upon GPS readings. Just east of downtown is a photo of a benchmark. Several others are waymarks.

 

-Paul-

 

P.S. The Laurinburg photos are very recent. (They were taken last Saturday!)

Edited by PFF
Link to comment

Patty:

 

You're my hero! I had no idea the New! features even existed, so now, in addition to your two totally useful new ones, I have a host of other new stuff, including the ability to rotate the maps a la Bing, the lack of which was driving me nuts. THANK YOU!

 

-Paul

Link to comment

You're very welcome, Paul!

 

I guess the lesson here is for us to check that "New" link occasionally to see what the Google Map Labs folks have been up to!

 

Patty

 

You can now see Google Earth in your Google Maps window.

 

Once I got all the plugins and settings correct, it worked very well!

 

Pretty cool to not have to start up Google Earth when I want to rotate/pan/zoom/fly on a map.

Link to comment

you can also use google maps to get coords without those new tools. just right-click on any spot on the map and select "what's here". after that, the search box will be updated with the coords of whereever you clicked.

 

not quite obvious or intuitive, but IMO the easiest way, as it allows copy/paste of the coords as well. google maps has had this feature for quite some time now.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...