Tip #16. Find an outdoor spot by its geographic coordinates and vice versa

Among 100+ Windy.app features, there are always one or two, or even three small ones that you didn't know about, right? Even if you're a true weather and outdoor expert using the app. Meanwhile, these may be small, but important features.

For example, you can find a spot for a particular outdoor activity or sport by its geographical coordinates: latitude and longitude. Why search for a spot by coordinates? You may need it and it is useful if you do not know the name of a spot but you have its coordinates. And vice versa: you can find out the geographic coordinates of any spot in the app as well as of any point on the world map to share the exact location of it with your friends. In both cases, it will help you to find the place faster and navigate to it using Google Maps and other navigation tools.

Here's exactly how you can do it:

1. To find a spot by coordinates, simply open the search in the upper right corner of the Home screen and enter the coordinates in the search bar or copy them there.

Home screen of the Windy.app for iOS

Spot search on the Home screen of the Windy.app for ioS

You can do the same on the Weather Map.

Weather Map in the Windy.app for iOS

2. Go to the spot to get the weather forecast. Note that in this case, the spot has no name.

Weather forecast for a spot in the Windy.app for iOS

3. To find out the coordinates of a marked spot in the app, you need to do a little trick.

Open the desired spot, for example, Nazare, a popular surf spot in Portugal. Click on the three dots to the right of the spot name in the upper right corner and select "Make a route" to the spot.

Nazare surfing spot, Portugal, in the Windy.app for iOS

Route to spot feature in the Windy.app for iOS

4. Select Apple Maps or Google Maps.

Route to spot feature in the Windy.app for iOS

5. Then click on "My location". Now in the line "To:" you see the exact coordinates of Nazare spot in DD format (decimal degrees): 39.608898,-9.085280 where 39 is degrees of the north latitude from the equator, and -9 is degrees of the west longitude from the Greenwich Meridian.

Geographic coordinated of Nazare surfing spot in the Apple Map in the Windy.app for iOS

Geographic coordinated of Nazare surfing spot in the Apple Maps in the Windy.app for iOS

Learn in a separate blog article how to properly read and write coordinates consisting of latitude and longitude.

In the case of Google Maps, you will immediately see the same coordinates as soon as you select the service on the second step of the route construction.

Geographic coordinates of Nazare surfing spot in the Google Maps in the Windy.app for iOS

6. You can also find out the coordinates of the spot on the Weather Map. In the application at the moment, they are specified for all marinas and ports in DMS format (degrees, minutes, seconds). The rest of the marked spots has no coordinates.

Geographic coordinates for Marina de Cascais, Spain, on the Weather Map in the Windy.app for iOS

7. Finally, you can find out the coordinates of any point on the map. To do this, just click on any location, and go to get the weather forecast for it.

Geographic coordinates for any point of the map in the Windy.app for iOS

Read all useful tips in the Windy.app blog. You can also find them all on the Tips page in the Support section of the website:

Text: Ivan Kuznetsov, an outdoor journalist, editor and writer from the Dolomites, Italy, and Karelia, Finland, with 10 years of professional experience. His favorite sports are hiking, cycling and sauna. Read his other articles

Cover photo: Carter Moorse / Unsplash