Google Earth: Find a Location by Latitude and Longitude

What Latitude and Longitude Mean

Coordinates describe a point on Earth with two numbers. Latitude measures how far north or south of the equator a point lies, from 0 at the equator to 90 at either pole. Longitude measures how far east or west of the prime meridian a point lies, from 0 to 180. Together they identify one position, independent of street names or addresses. That makes them especially useful on rural roads, long highway stretches, parking areas and other places with no nearby address.

Direction is shown either with a letter (N, S, E, W) or with a sign. In decimal notation, north latitude and east longitude are positive, while south latitude and west longitude are negative. Every location in the contiguous United States has a positive latitude and a negative longitude, so a US coordinate written in decimal form should have a minus sign in front of the second number.

Coordinate Formats Google Earth and Google Maps Accept

Both tools recognize the three common formats. The values below are illustrative and show the same type of position written three ways.

Format | How it looks | Notes; Decimal degrees (DD) | 39.74210, -104.99150 | Easiest to type and share; a minus sign means south or west; Degrees, decimal minutes (DDM) | 39°44.526'N 104°59.490'W | Common on some GPS units and marine or aviation displays; Degrees, minutes, seconds (DMS) | 39°44'31.6"N 104°59'29.4"W | Traditional format; uses letters instead of signs

If you cannot type the degree symbol, a space usually works in its place, and decimal degrees avoid the issue entirely. Use a period as the decimal separator and a comma or space between latitude and longitude.

39.74210, -104.99150; 39.74210 -104.99150; 39 44.526N 104 59.490W; 39 44 31.6N 104 59 29.4W

How to Find a Location by Coordinates in Google Earth

Open Google Earth in a browser, the mobile app or Google Earth Pro on a computer. Select the search field. In the web and mobile versions, it is usually behind a magnifying glass icon. In Google Earth Pro, it is in the search panel on the left. Enter the latitude, then the longitude, in one of the formats above. Press Enter or tap Search. The view flies to the point and marks it. Zoom in and check the surroundings, such as road layout, interchanges, bridges or buildings, to confirm the result matches where you expect to be.

To keep the point, add a placemark. In Google Earth Pro, the placemark properties window shows the latitude and longitude fields, and you can edit them directly to move the marker to exact coordinates. You can also change the displayed coordinate format in the program's options, which helps when the numbers you received are in a different format from what is on screen. Menu names and placement vary between versions, so look for options related to placemarks, projects or saved places.

Placing a Latitude and Longitude Marker in Google Maps

Many people search for a Google Maps latitude and longitude marker because Maps is already on their phone. Entering coordinates works the same way: type them into the search bar and Maps drops a pin at that position, with the coordinates shown in the place card. From there you can request directions, share the location or save it.

To get map marker coordinates for a point you choose, drop a pin and read it.

On a phone: press and hold the spot on the map until a pin appears. The coordinates usually appear in the search bar or at the top of the information panel that slides up. Tap or long-press them to copy. On a computer: right-click the spot. The coordinates are usually listed at the top of the menu, and clicking them copies the numbers to the clipboard. To find your current position: tap the location button so the blue dot centers on screen, then press and hold on or next to the dot to drop a pin and display its coordinates.

The terms lat long marker, latitude and longitude marker, and longitude and latitude marker all refer to this kind of map pin tied to a coordinate pair. Do not confuse them with the green mile marker signs along US highways. Those show distance along a specific route, not geographic coordinates. Both are useful to responders, but they mean different things.

Using Coordinates to Report a Breakdown Location

When a vehicle stops on a highway shoulder or an unfamiliar back road, an address often does not exist or is hard to describe. A coordinate pair gives the dispatcher a precise point to enter into their own mapping system. Combined with route information, it helps a tow truck or service vehicle arrive on the correct side of a divided road and at the right exit.

Get to a safe position first. Read and share coordinates only once you and your passengers are out of the path of traffic. Copy the coordinates from your map app rather than reading them off the screen and retyping them, when you can. When speaking, read latitude first, then longitude, and say the minus sign or the direction letter clearly. For example: "thirty-nine point seven four two one north, one hundred four point nine nine one five west."; Add context the coordinates do not convey: the highway or road name, direction of travel, nearest exit or mile marker, and visible landmarks. Describe the vehicle: color, type and whether hazard lights are on. If you share a location link or pin through a messaging app instead, confirm the recipient can open it and sees the same point.

Some roadside assistance apps and emergency services can receive location automatically from a phone. Still, being able to read coordinates aloud is a reliable fallback when an app fails, the data connection is weak, or the person on the line asks for them.

Position Accuracy: How Precise Are the Numbers?

Precision depends on how many decimal places you give. In decimal degrees, each additional decimal place narrows the position by roughly a factor of ten. One ten-thousandth of a degree of latitude is roughly eleven meters, and one hundred-thousandth is roughly one meter. Five decimal places are generally more than enough to put a responder on the right stretch of road. Rounding to two or three decimal places can shift the point by hundreds of meters or more, which may land on a different road or the opposite carriageway.

The numbers can only be as accurate as the phone's location fix. Accuracy usually improves with a clear view of the sky and with high-accuracy location mode enabled in device settings. It can degrade in deep valleys, dense urban areas, tunnels, parking structures or under heavy tree cover. Many map apps show a shaded circle around the blue dot. A larger circle means more uncertainty, so wait a moment for it to tighten before copying coordinates. Map data, such as road geometry and satellite imagery, can also be outdated in places, so confirm the pin against what you actually see.

Common Mistakes and How to Spot Them

Problem | What you see | Fix; Latitude and longitude swapped | Point lands in an unexpected country or the ocean, or the search fails | Put latitude first; for US locations it is the smaller absolute number (roughly 18 to 72), while longitude is larger (roughly 65 to 180); Missing minus sign on longitude | A US coordinate lands in Asia | Add the minus sign or use W after the number; Mixed formats | Point is off by kilometers | Do not combine decimal minutes with seconds; convert to one format; Comma used as decimal separator | Search misreads the numbers | Use a period for decimals, and a comma or space only between the two values; Too few decimal places | Pin is near, but on the wrong road | Share at least five decimal places in decimal degrees

Location Permissions and Device Settings

If the map cannot show your position or the blue dot will not appear, check location permissions. The map app needs permission to access location, and precise location should be allowed rather than approximate. On many phones, approximate location deliberately blurs your position, which makes the coordinates much less useful for a roadside pickup. Also make sure the phone's system-wide location service is switched on.

GPS positioning itself does not require a cellular data connection, but loading map imagery and searching does. In areas with weak coverage, the blue dot and its coordinates may still appear even if the map background does not load. Downloading offline maps for a planned route in advance can help, and the coordinates can still be read and relayed by voice call or text.

Quick Reference

Find a place by coordinates: type latitude, longitude into the Google Earth or Google Maps search box. Get coordinates from the map: long-press on a phone or right-click on a computer to drop a pin and display its numbers. US coordinates in decimal form: positive latitude, negative longitude. Share at least five decimal places, plus road name, direction of travel and nearest exit or mile marker. Before sending, check that the pin sits where your vehicle actually is.