Coordinates to Map

About Coordinates to Map

Somebody sent you a latitude and longitude and you want to know where it actually is. Paste it in — in whatever shape it arrived — and the map shows you.

It also writes the same point back out in the other coordinate formats, so you can hand it on in whichever one is being asked for.

Free, no account, nothing saved.

Paste it however it arrived

The box is deliberately forgiving, because coordinates almost never arrive tidy. All of these are the same place, and all of them work:

• 37.5665, 126.9780
• 37.5665 126.9780
• 37.5665N, 126.9780E
• N37.5665 E126.9780
• 37°33'59.4"N 126°58'40.9"E
• 37 33 59.4 N, 126 58 40.9 E
• 37°33.990'N 126°58.680'E
• 37 33 59.4 126 58 40.9

Curly quotes from a phone or a word processor are handled, so are the º symbol, extra spaces, semicolons and slashes between the two halves.

You can also paste a map link. Copy a Google Maps or OpenStreetMap URL and drop the whole thing in — the numbers are pulled straight out of the text. The link is never opened or followed; only the digits inside it are read.

When the pair is the wrong way round

This is the single most common problem with coordinates that have travelled between systems, and the tool catches it for you.

Latitude runs from -90 to 90. Longitude runs from -180 to 180. So if the first number is larger than 90, it cannot be a latitude — the pair has been written longitude-first. Some mapping software genuinely stores it that way, so this happens all the time when data moves between programs.

When it is obvious, the tool reads the pair the correct way round and tells you it did, rather than quietly relocating you. When the numbers are simply out of range, it says so instead of guessing.

What the pin can and cannot tell you

The pin is exactly where the numbers say. Whether that is where you *want* depends entirely on how many digits you were given.

• Six decimals — the doorway
• Five decimals — the right doorway, give or take a step
• Four decimals — the right building
• Three decimals — the right block
• Two decimals — the right part of town
• No decimals at all — up to 111 km away

If a coordinate arrives as whole degrees, the tool says so on screen, because a pin that lands in an empty field is usually a truncation problem rather than a wrong place.

There is no place-name search here, on purpose

You cannot type "Eiffel Tower" or a street address into the box. That is a deliberate limitation, not an oversight, and it is worth explaining.

Turning a name into coordinates needs an address database, and the free open one asks for no more than one search per second across an entire website, with as-you-type search explicitly ruled out. A page that anyone can find in a search engine would break that limit immediately, so putting it here would mean either paying for a commercial service or quietly misusing a free one. Neither belongs on a free tool.

What this page does instead is the part that needs no database at all: turning numbers into a place, and one coordinate format into another. That part is exact, and it is arithmetic.

What you can do with it

• Check where a coordinate from an email, form or document actually is
• See where a photo was taken, from the coordinates in its metadata
• Confirm a delivery point, meeting spot or site location before relying on it
• Check that coordinates in a spreadsheet or database are not reversed or truncated
• Turn a coordinate into a shareable map link for someone else
• Convert a coordinate into the format your own software needs

Features

• Accepts every common format, plus pasted Google Maps and OpenStreetMap links
• Catches reversed pairs and tells you when it re-reads them
• Warns about whole degrees, the most common cause of a pin in the wrong place
• Converts as it plots — decimal, DMS and decimal minutes, all at once
• Choose the zoom — region, city, street or building
• Open the same point in OpenStreetMap or Google Maps
• Shareable web address — a coordinate in the link opens the page ready to go
• No account, no sign-up, nothing saved

Good to know

• The map pictures come from OpenStreetMap. Showing a place means asking their servers for the squares around it. The reading and converting happens on your device.
• Coordinates do not become addresses. The pin shows a point on the ground, not a postal address.
• Everything here uses WGS 84, the system GPS, phones and web maps all use. Old survey data in a different system can land tens or hundreds of metres out.
• A minus sign and a hemisphere letter mean the same thing. Use one or the other — -33.86S cancels itself out and flips the point to the wrong hemisphere.

Common questions

How do I see where coordinates are on a map?

Paste them into the box above and press *Show it on the map*. Any common format works, including degrees-minutes-seconds and a copied Google Maps or OpenStreetMap link. The same point is written back out in the other formats underneath.

Why is the pin in the wrong place?

Almost always one of three reasons. The pair may be reversed, with longitude written first, which the tool detects and tells you about. The decimals may have been cut off, and whole degrees put the pin up to 111 km away. Or the coordinates use an old surveying system rather than WGS 84, which can shift a point by tens or hundreds of metres.

Can I paste a Google Maps link instead of coordinates?

Yes. Copy the whole link and drop it in the box. The numbers are read straight out of the text and the link is never opened or followed, so nothing about it is sent anywhere.

What does it mean if latitude and longitude are swapped?

Latitude runs from -90 to 90 and longitude from -180 to 180, so a first number above 90 has to be a longitude. Some mapping software genuinely stores longitude first, which is why the mistake is so common when data moves between programs. When it is unambiguous the tool reads the pair the right way round and says so on screen.

Can I search for a place name or an address here?

No, and that is deliberate. Turning a name into coordinates needs an address database, and the free open one allows only one search per second for an entire website, with as-you-type search explicitly forbidden. This page does the part that needs no database at all: turning numbers into a place.

Is a coordinate accurate enough to find a building?

Four decimal places puts you on the right building and five on the right doorway. Three gets the right block and two only the right part of town. Check how many decimals you were given before relying on the pin.

Related tools

• GPS Coordinates — the other direction: click the map, read the numbers
• Coordinate Converter — just the format conversion, no map, fully offline
• Image Metadata Viewer — pull the coordinates out of a photo
• What Is My IP — the much rougher location an IP address gives
• Blur Part of an Image — hide something before you share it

How to use it

• Paste the coordinates into the box, in any format
• Press Show it on the map, or just press Enter
• Pick a zoom — street level for a building, region to see the wider area
• Read the other formats underneath, or open the point in another map