Geo coordinates in Decimal Degrees à la Google (e.g. 51.501061,-0.142350)

Johannes Müller shared this idea 8 years ago
Gathering feedback

In Google Maps, if you right-click on a point on a map and choose "What is here?", you get geo coordinates in a simple, short Decimal Degrees format which looks like


51.501061,-0.142350 (for Buckingham Palace)


Whereas when you set the Lat/Lon format in Locus Pro to Decimal Degrees, and you copy the coordinates of Buckingham Palace into the clipboard, you get another kind of format, like:


n 51.50106° , w 000.14235°


I wish it was possible with Locus Pro to copy and handle geo coordinates not only in the current Locus Pro Decimal Degree format, but also in Google's "sub format", i.e. with +/- instead of E/W and N/S and without the Degree symbol (°) after each coordinate.


Of course, the most flexible approach would be to offer some kind of generic text field with special placeholders/tokens (for N/S,W/E or +-, for "space", for the degree sign °, for the numbers of digits before and after the comma, with or without trailing zeros before each coordinate and so on...) where the user could define every format he wants -- as it is with the custom cell formats you can define individually in Microsoft Excel.

Replies (8)

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this would be very helpful and much more compatible with other programs and software

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Hello guys,


what is a main usage of these coordinates for you? Simply, why you miss this feature in Locus?


Because in case, you wanna display certain place visible in Locus, in different map application, you may do it from bottom point screen context menu.

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Copy FROM another app or the Web, you get e.g. 51.501061,-0.142350. Try to put that into Locus easily ...

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That's is opposite direction that was an idea, isn't it? Some coordinates to Locus, not from Locus somewhere. Anyway such coordinates are easily handled. Edit coordinates on any place in Locus and choose "clipboard".

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2

I very much like the short URL format that Google offers for pointing to a certain geo coordinate, like in the following example:


https://maps.google.com/maps?q=50.941269,6.958217

(for Cologne Cathedral)


I like this format, because it's not only short, but simple:

  • There is only one unit (decimal degrees; like in the format Locus Pro uses).
  • There are no letters, just digits, minus signs eventually, one comma per LatLon, and points.
  • There are no bloaty space signs or unusual characters like the degree sign (°).
  • It works with Google, and you can easily create Google Maps links with it, by prefixing the coordinates with "https://maps.google.com/maps?q=".


That's my use case. Thanks for asking! :)

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As Michael Bechtold noted, the opposite direction is also interesting for me. I would like to be able to simply paste coordinates like 50.941269,6.958217 easily into a Locus Pro POI.


That's the reason why I don't like the separation of Latitude and Longitude and the North/South, East/West dropdown lists in Locus' coordinates dialog. I would prefer one simple text field.


This indeed is a different use case.

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The "copy from clipboard" solution for the latter scenario seems to be fine.


Nevertheless, I'd prefer a simple edit text field (with an x "clear button" at its end) and the generic text editing capabilities of Android to insert coordinates.

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One post - one email, please.


Anyway I still don't get what exactly you expect from Locus.


To share coordinates from Locus, is a lot better to use "share" function or even better, directly from context menu of point (where you may simply open certain location in different application). Also in Share > Map center is option to directly create mentioned Google Maps location url.


To get coordinates into Locus, you may use menu > search > move to coordinates > clipboard or thanks to same "clipboard" function set coordinates to what even point you wants.


So only what remain I think, is possibility to "copy" coordinates from Locus to clipboard in mentioned format, in cases, you wants to use them in different way then Locus offer, right? Currently it's possible tap long-click on coordinates panel in point detail, to copy coordinates to clipboard. Here is currently only place I may imagine to offer also copy to this simplified format. What you think?

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Locus' "Share as Google Maps (URL)" function almost perfectly fits my needs. The only annoying thing is that it also includes the name of the POI into the URL, so it's not exactly the same URL format.


To really get a URL in the mentioned (minmal) format, following needs to be done:


Open a POI > Tap on the overflow menu button in the lower right corner > Choose "Share" > Clear the already filled "Content area" by tapping on the cross sign > Tap on "+" > Tap on "Google Maps (URL)" > Position the cursor directly behind the "@" symbol (e.g. for "http://maps.google.com?q=Foo%20Bar%20Sesamstra%C3%9Fe@50.941269,6.958217") > Tap on backspace as often as needed to erase the POI name from the URL (be careful not to erase too much) > Long press the URL, mark all and copy to clipboard OR Share with clipboard.


Therefore an additional possibility to copy the coordinates directly into the clipboard in the mentioned format would be fine, but even better would be a "Share as Google Maps (URL)" function that does not include the POI name.


Because this is a special requirement, maybe it would be the best solution to make the default format of the "Content area" in the share dialog configurable in the settings, and to offer a set of variables that can be used (similar to Java's String.format or to Excel's generic cell format).


Example


###

Somewhere in the settings menu:

Default "Share Location" text format (Click here to variables...)


Variables:

{d} minimal signed decimal degree (without degree symbol, without space, without zero padding) Example: 50.941269,6.958217


{03.4d} (with zero padding, maximal 3 digits before the point, maximal 4 digits after the point) Example: 050.9412,006.9582


{lat:03.4d}, {lon:03.4d} Latitude only (with zero padding, maximal 3 digits before the point, maximal 4 digits after the point), then a comma and a space, then Longitude only. Example: 050.9412, 006.9582

###


This variable naming proposal is a quick shot. Maybe another variable format would be better. The important part is the generic idea behind it.

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