Search Location by Latitude and Longitude
The short answer
To find a place from its coordinates, type the latitude first and the longitude second into the search bar of a map app or navigation device, separated by a comma, for example 39.74210, -104.99150. The map should drop a pin on that point. Most map apps accept a single coordinate pair in their normal search field, so you usually do not need a special mode. If the pin lands somewhere implausible, such as in the ocean or on another continent, the coordinates were most likely entered in the wrong order, with a missing minus sign, or in a mixed format.
This guide covers locating a breakdown spot that someone has sent you as coordinates, or reading your own coordinates so you can pass them to a tow operator, roadside assistance provider or emergency dispatcher. It does not cover any specific vehicle's built-in telematics system. Whether a car can transmit its own position, and in what form, depends on the make, model year, market and subscription status, so check the owner's manual or the service provider's documentation for that.
What latitude and longitude mean
Latitude measures position north or south of the equator and runs from -90 to 90 degrees. Longitude measures position east or west of the prime meridian and runs from -180 to 180 degrees. Together they identify one point on the Earth's surface. GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers in phones and vehicles normally report positions on the WGS 84 datum (World Geodetic System 1984), which is also what mainstream map apps use. Coordinates copied between ordinary consumer devices therefore usually line up without conversion.
Across the contiguous United States, latitude is positive and falls roughly between 24 and 49 degrees north. Longitude is negative and falls roughly between 67 and 125 degrees west. Alaska and Hawaii lie outside those ranges, but every US location is still north of the equator and west of the prime meridian. A US breakdown location with a positive longitude or a negative latitude is almost certainly a typing error.
The three common coordinate formats
The same point can be written in several ways. Map apps generally accept all of the formats below, but each value must be written consistently in one format. The example coordinates are only an illustration of the notation.
Format | Abbreviation | Example; Decimal degrees | DD | 39.74210, -104.99150; Degrees and decimal minutes | DDM | 39°44.526'N 104°59.490'W; Degrees, minutes and seconds | DMS | 39°44'31.6"N 104°59'29.4"W
Decimal degrees are the easiest format to type and the least prone to error, so use them whenever you can. In DD, south latitudes and west longitudes carry a minus sign. In DDM and DMS, direction is shown with the letters N, S, E or W, and no minus sign is needed.
To convert DMS to decimal degrees, add the degrees, the minutes divided by 60 and the seconds divided by 3600, then make the result negative for south or west values:
DD = degrees + (minutes / 60) + (seconds / 3600); 104°59'29.4"W; = 104 + (59 / 60) + (29.4 / 3600); = 104.99150; -> -104.99150 (negative because it is west)
How to search the coordinates
Copy the coordinates exactly as received. Pasting is safer than retyping because it avoids transposed digits. Open a map or navigation app and paste the pair into the normal search field, with latitude first and longitude second. Use a period as the decimal separator and a comma or space between the two values. A comma used as a decimal mark, as in 39,74210, can be misread. Confirm the pin. Check that the surrounding area matches what the sender described, such as a highway, a rural road or a parking area. Use the app's directions or share function to route a tow truck or helper to the pin, or to forward the location in a form the recipient can open.
Menu names and button placement differ between apps, devices and software versions. If pasting into the search bar does not work in a particular app, check that app's help pages for how it handles coordinate entry.
If the pin lands in the wrong place: order of checks
When a shared breakdown location does not make sense, work through these causes from most to least common:
Swapped order: the longitude was entered first. Any value larger than 90 or smaller than -90 must be longitude, because latitude cannot go beyond that range. Missing or extra minus sign: a US longitude entered without the minus sign places the pin in Asia instead of North America. Mixed formats: part of the value is in decimal degrees and part in minutes or seconds, or minutes were typed as if they were decimal fractions. For example, 39 degrees 44 minutes is not 39.44 degrees. Wrong separator: a comma used as the decimal mark, or missing spaces in DMS notation, can make an app split or misread the numbers. Truncated precision: if digits were dropped while copying, the point may be close but not exact. Stale or poor fix: the sender's device may have reported an old position or a weak signal. Tall buildings, tunnels, dense tree cover or a phone that has only just acquired a signal can reduce accuracy.
How precise do the coordinates need to be?
Precision depends on the number of decimal places in decimal degrees. One degree of latitude spans roughly 111 kilometers, or about 69 miles. Each additional decimal place narrows the area by a factor of ten. Four decimal places resolve to roughly 11 meters, and five decimal places to roughly 1 meter of latitude. The east-west distance per degree of longitude shrinks as you move away from the equator. Five decimal places are generally enough to pick out a specific spot along a road shoulder. However, the accuracy of the original GPS fix matters more than extra digits, and a phone may display more decimal places than its signal actually supports.
Sharing your own breakdown location
Most smartphone map apps can show the coordinates of your current position, usually by tapping or long-pressing the blue location dot or a dropped pin. The exact steps vary by app and operating system. When you pass a location to roadside assistance or a tow operator, give the coordinates as decimal degrees with latitude first, and add context that coordinates alone do not provide:
Road name or highway number and your direction of travel. On a divided highway, a pin on the wrong carriageway can send a truck the wrong way. Nearest exit, mile marker, intersection or prominent landmark. Which side of the road the vehicle is on, and whether it is on the shoulder, in a lane or off the road. Vehicle description: make, model, color and anything that will help the driver spot it.
Read the numbers back or send them as text rather than only saying them aloud, because digits are easy to mishear over a poor phone connection. If you are in an unsafe position on or beside a live traffic lane, contact emergency services first. Locating the vehicle precisely is secondary to getting people out of danger.
Limits of this guide
No vehicle-specific or service-specific evidence was available for this guide. It does not state which vehicles or roadside programs send coordinates automatically, the format they use, or how accurate their position reports are. For those details, consult the vehicle's owner documentation or the roadside assistance provider directly. The coordinate formats, value ranges and conversion method described here are general geographic conventions and apply regardless of the device used.
