Editing Encyclopedia:Obtaining geographic coordinates (section)

====Google Earth====
[[Google Earth]] makes it easy to search for the coordinates of any location and zooming in on them. The coordinate format can be chosen via <code>Tools → Options → 3D View → Show Lat/Long</code>. There are many ways to obtain coordinates:
* Move the mouse pointer to where you want, then use the keyboard to select the Menu item <code>Edit → Copy View Location</code> to copy the coordinates to the clipboard. More convenient is the associated keyboard shortcut. If it is not provided in the currently chosen language of Google Earth, change it to <code>English (UK)</code> (<code>Tools → Options → General → Language settings</code>).
* Move the mouse pointer to where you want, and note the coordinates displayed on the bottom of the earth display window. The numbers will have to be written from the screen manually, but this does let you choose an appropriately rounded value, without excess precision, for the location you're capturing.
* Center the screen on your location by double-clicking on it, then use the <code>View in Google Maps</code> button at the top (Google Earth 4.1 and newer). This will open Google Maps within Google Earth. You can see the center coordinates in decimal format in the address bar, but unfortunately you cannot copy them directly. To do so, use the button <code>Open this page in your default web browser</code> to display the same Google Maps page in your browser with unrestricted access to its address bar. Of course, all the methods listed above for Google Maps are also available.
* Center the screen on your location by double-clicking on it, then  create a placemark (<code>Add Placemark</code>-button or Menu <code>Add → Placemark</code>. The "New Placemark" window displays the coordinates.
* For the coordinates of an existing placemark, right click on it on the sidebar and select "Copy". This makes the clipboard hold a KML ("Keyhole Markup Language") description of the placemark. Since KML is XML, it's easily manipulable. Towards the bottom of the placemark is a tag <code>&lt;coordinates&gt;...&lt;/coordinates&gt;</code> which contains the long/lat coordinates in decimal degrees. Note that the order of the coordinates is lon/lat; you may want to swap the both in order to get the more common lat/lon notation. Also note that the precision is ridiculously high; you'll probably want to trim it down.
* Install the Google Earth version of the '''hjl_get_Coor''' tool: [http://www.alder-digital.de/wiki/images/Ald-Hjl-Koord-en.kmz Ald-Hjl-Koord-en.kmz]. Once it's installed, a crosshair icon appears in the middle of the Google Earth screen. Move the view so that the crosshair is on your desired location, and then click on it. There is a link to the '''hjl_get_Coor''' tool, which gives the coordinates back in your chosen wiki markup that can be copied and pasted to an article.
*  The exported kml or kmz file can also be converted to templates using the [http://tools.wikimedia.de/~para/GeoCommons/kmlconvert.php kmlconvert] tool.