Can I find GPS coordinates from Google Maps (or another map program?)

Factual Questions
1

I want to show a friend how to use my GPS receiver, and I’d like to plug in a few coordinates around Boston as waypoints (specifically, South Station, for one). Is there a way to get the coordinates for a specific address from Google Maps or another online mapping program? Thanks!

-Tofer

2

I’m not sure about plugging an address in to a map site and getting GPS coords. I don’t know of any sites that do that.

You can just use Topozone to find Boston and then find the places your after. It gives GPS coords for where ever you center the map (the little red crosshair).

btw, Geocaching is much fun!

3

Google Earth will give you lat/long coordinates. Plus, it’s a kick ass program to play with.
http://earth.google.com/

4

Using Google Earth, I can tell you that I’m posting from my couch, which is N 43° 46" 07.91", W 070° 38’ 32.13".

Yeah - it’s a slow Saturday.

5

Cool – thanks for the tips. I’ll try Google Earth on my friend’s PC (I’ve got a Mac). I’ll also check out TopoZone. Cheers!

-Tofer

6

If, for some reason, Google Earth doesn’t work for you, you can use Geocode.

7

Ooh – I found exactly what I was looking for:

http://www.thrall.net/maps/mbta.html

This is a Boston MBTA Google Maps finder, and if you get directions to one of the stations, it lists the GPS coords.

-Tofer

8

BTW, if you use Google Maps, and click the “Link to this page” button, the latitude/longitude will be in the URL in the address bar. It looks like ll=xxxx.xx,yyyyy.yy.

9

Thanks for the tip, but when I entered an address and clicked “Link to this page,” there wasn’t any “ll=” parameter in the address bar…

-Tofer

10

Hmm. Try scrolling until the address you chose is just off the page.
If it’s on the page, Google appears to just store the address and the scroll off-set, rather than add the lat/long.