Coordinates to city

Worked example: Denver's capitol

The point 39.739, -104.985 is the Colorado capitol as stored on this site. Its other formats are:

• DMS: 39°44'20.40"N 104°59'6.00"W
• DMM: 39°44.3400'N 104°59.1000'W
• UTM: 13N 501285.3E 4398789.5N
• Geohash: 9xj654222
• Plus code: 85FQP2Q7+JX

The city name comes from Photon at the moment you look it up, so it is not printed here.

How to use it

1. Type or paste coordinates into Paste coordinates, for example 40.7128, -74.0060, then click outside the box. You can also click the map, search, or use GPS.
2. The map centers on the point and the tool asks Photon for the nearest city.
3. The card shows the point in six formats, and clicking a value copies it: DD, DMS, DMM, UTM, geohash, and plus code.
4. The city or place name appears under the card when Photon answers.

Formats you can paste

The coordinate box reads decimal degrees separated by a comma, space, or slash, such as 40.7128, -74.0060. It also reads degrees, minutes, and seconds with hemisphere letters, and it pulls the coordinates out of a map link that contains @latitude,longitude. Latitude comes first. Values outside ±90 latitude or ±180 longitude are rejected.

The coordinates are read when you leave the box, then the map centers on the point and the lookup runs.

What counts as the city

Photon returns the closest OpenStreetMap feature with its address parts. The tool shows the city, town, or village tag when there is one, and the feature's label when there is not. In unincorporated areas that can be the nearest town even though the point is outside its limits.

The US postal city for an address follows post office areas and can name a different town. For an unambiguous US unit, get the county with What county am I in?.

Worldwide coverage

The lookup works anywhere OpenStreetMap has settlements, which is nearly everywhere with people. At sea or in empty regions the nearest named feature can be very far away, and the result may be a mountain, a lake, or a region name.

Common mistakes

Swapped values are the most common problem: a longitude typed first puts the point in another part of the world, or it is rejected as out of range. A missing minus sign moves a US point to China or Russia. If the map lands somewhere unexpected, check the order and the signs before trusting the city name.