Re: latitude and longitude
Sue J. Worden (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)
Thu, 1 Jan 1998 15:45:40 -0600 (CST)
> From: KIRK3KHAN <KIRK3KHAN@aol.com>
> Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 14:05:37 EST
> Subject: latitude and longitude
> [ ... ]
> Can someone give me the address to a good website that can tell you your
> latitude and longitude given a city or town?
For locations in the USA, the United States Geological Survey's
Geographic Names Information System is the best online reference
I know of. Their search form is at:
http://www-nmd.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html
For cities and towns, enter the place name in the "feature name"
box, and enter "ppl" (populated place) in the "feature type" box,
to avoid getting hits on other types of features (e.g., schools)
that incorporate the place name. I've also found that entering
the state name is very helpful to narrow the search, but entering
the county name, too, often produces unexpected results.
Note that the USGS latitude and longitude will be often be that
of the city's survey monument, which is usually located in the
central city on or near a government building. If you want to
get more specific, e.g., at a particular street intersection,
use the USA Census Bureau Tiger Map service instead. It's at:
http://tiger.census.gov/
It will initialize on the Washington, D.C. area. Enter the USGS
latitude and longitude at the bottom of the form to get a map of
your general area, then zoom in and change the map center to get
the latitude and longitude of the particular location you need.
Hope this helps.
--Sue Worden (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)