What are my coordinates? Your GPS location right now

"Where am I exactly?" is something people ask when they have to tell a friend, a taxi or a rescue service where to find them, when they log a find, a fishing spot or a geocache, when a form wants a latitude and longitude, or simply because they are lost on a trail. Your phone already knows the answer, but most apps hide it behind a pin. This page asks your browser for the position once, with your permission, and puts the numbers first: latitude and longitude as decimal degrees, the way Google Maps and emergency apps read them, and as degrees, minutes and seconds for paper maps. Below them are the grid formats used by hikers, the military and search teams, the nearest town, the country, the time zone and the ground height. A blue circle on the map shows how far the reading can be trusted, and the page tells you whether it probably came from satellites, from Wi-Fi networks or only from your internet address. One button copies a ready-made message with the coordinates and a map link to paste into a text, a chat or an e-mail; on phones a second button opens the share menu directly.

How to use it

1. Press "Show my coordinates" and choose Allow when your browser asks to use your location.
2. Read your latitude and longitude in the big figures and check the size of the blue accuracy circle on the map.
3. Press "Copy a message with my location" or "Send…" to pass the position on, or copy a single format from the table.
4. Tick "Keep updating while I move" to follow your position on a walk; if the dot is wrong, click your real spot on the map.

How accurate is it?

Where the position comes from

Browsers do not say which sensor they used, only how sure they are, as a radius in metres. A radius of 30 m or less almost always means satellite positioning: outdoors with a clear sky a phone gets within 3–10 m. Between 30 and 200 m the position usually comes from Wi-Fi networks and mobile masts nearby, which is typical indoors and on laptops. Above 200 m the browser has often guessed from your internet address, which can put you in the next town or at your provider's office, so the page warns you and the coordinates should not be used for anything that matters.

Why the figures are rounded

The fifth decimal of a degree is about 1.1 m and the sixth about 11 cm. A reading that is only good to ±10 m gains nothing from six decimals, so the big figures stop at the decimal that still means something – five for a good GPS fix, four for a Wi-Fi position – while the table keeps all six for copying. The accuracy is a radius within which the true position lies about two times out of three, not a guarantee.

How to get a better reading

Step outside or close to a window, wait half a minute after turning on location so the receiver can find more satellites, and press the button again; the circle should shrink. Turn on precise or high-accuracy location in your phone's settings. Tall buildings, deep valleys and thick forest reflect or block the signals and can add tens of metres. Following your position for a minute and watching the circle settle is a quick way to judge it.

Datum and formats

The coordinates are on WGS84, the datum of GPS, Google Maps and OpenStreetMap, which agrees with ETRS89 in Europe and NAD83 in North America to around a metre. UTM and MGRS are calculated with GeographicLib-grade formulas, the Plus Code names a cell of about 14 × 14 m and the ground height comes from open Terrain Tiles. For national grids such as the British National Grid or Lambert 93 use the coordinate converter.

Good to know

Calling for help

In an emergency call the emergency number first. Most phones send their position to the emergency service automatically (Advanced Mobile Location in Europe, enhanced 911 in North America), and that is faster and more reliable than reading out numbers. If the operator asks for coordinates, read the latitude first and say north or south, then the longitude with east or west.

Latitude and longitude the right way round

Latitude, the north–south value, comes first; longitude second. Swapping them moves the point to another continent, and a lost minus sign moves it to the other side of the world: 40.7, −74.0 is New York, 40.7, 74.0 is in Kyrgyzstan. The copied message writes the hemisphere letters as well, so it can be read aloud safely.

A blocked permission stays blocked

If you once pressed Block, the browser will not ask again and the button only reports that the position is not available. The page then shows how to switch location back on for your browser; after that, reload the page. On iPhones the setting is under Location Services for the browser app itself.