If you need to meet a friend at a specific picnic table in a massive national park, or if you need to direct a tow truck to a broken-down car on a desolate stretch of highway, providing a street address is completely useless. Instead, you need to provide the exact, absolute numerical latitude and longitude of that specific spot.
Google Maps generates these highly precise GPS coordinates for every single square inch of the planet, but it hides the numbers behind the friendly, graphical interface by default.
How to Extract Coordinates on the Mobile App
- Open the Google Maps app on your iPhone or Android device.
- Pan around the map and zoom in closely on the exact, specific location you want to share.
- Press and hold your finger down on the screen at that exact spot until a red dropped pin appears. (Ensure you drop the pin on an empty area, not directly on top of an existing business icon).
- A menu will slide up from the bottom of the screen. Look at the very top of this menu; you will see the GPS coordinates (e.g.,
34.0522, -118.2437) listed in plain text. - Simply tap the coordinates with your finger. Google Maps will instantly copy the numbers to your phone’s clipboard, allowing you to paste them directly into a text message.
How to Extract Coordinates on a Desktop Computer
- Open your web browser and navigate to google.com/maps.
- Locate the exact spot on the map.
- Right-click directly on the location.
- A small context menu will appear. The very first item at the top of this menu will be the numerical GPS coordinates.
- Click the numbers once with your left mouse button to instantly copy them to your clipboard.
The recipient can now simply paste those exact numbers directly into the search bar of their own Google Maps app (or Apple Maps, or a dedicated handheld GPS unit) and it will instantly snap the camera to that exact square inch of the planet, entirely bypassing the need for a street address.