There are a number of ways to obtain the coordinates of the locations you want to store. Listed below however are three of the easiest:

1. Use a GPS receiver
2. Take a photo with your GPS-equipped smartphone or digital camera
3. Find the location on Google Earth

Typically, GPS receivers, whether Navman/TomTom type or a dedicated unit such as a Garmin or Magellan, allow you to save the location at which you are situated. This might be as a “Favourite” or a “Waypoint”, depending on the specifics of your unit. Normally the unit will display the coordinates which can then be transcribed into a notebook or directly into the program. The disadvantage of this method is that you have to be situated at the location in order to get its coordinates.

If your smartphone is equipped with a camera and GPS unit, or if you have a GPS-enabled digital camera, just take a photo! The coordinates, along with a whole lot of other information about the photo and/or camera, will normally be automatically saved in the photo's metadata, known as EXIF (if not, you may need to find an option on the phone setting that enables this feature). You can later view this information using a photo viewing program. We highly recommend the free ExifToolGUI, available from http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/~bogdan/, as seen in the screen capture below. Note that you may need to select the menu Options | Show Exif:GPS in decimal degrees (as highlighted). The GPS coordinates are also highlighted:



There may also be apps available for your smartphone that enable you to view this information without having to copy the photo to your PC first. On an iPhone we have used and recommend the free ExifWizard (available from the Apple AppStore), a screen capture of which is shown below:



The disadvantage of this method is again that you have to be situated at the location in order to capture the coordinates. Also, for smartphones, you may not get an accurate location fix unless you have a phone signal (because in order to save valuable space and power, the onboard GPS in a smartphone often uses triangulation from phone towers to assist in locating itself).

Google Earth is a global satellite imaging program that you can download from http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth/index.html and install on your PC for free. If you can find the location you wish to map using the satellite imagery (which can be overlaid with road and place names) you can capture the coordinates directly and paste them into the program, without having to be at the location first. As you move the mousepointer around the satellite image, the coordinates are displayed at the bottom of the Google Earth window, as can be seen in the screenshot below. However this can be awkward to use because you have to manually write out the displayed coordinates in order to use them.



An easier way is to go through the motions of adding a Placemark to the image. Select the menu option and a flashing box and pushpin will be displayed. Drag this to the desired location and release the mouse button, which will display the coordinates in text boxes that you can copy directly into the program using the Windows Clipboard in the usual way. This is also shown below:



After you have copied and pasted the coordinates you can click Cancel to abort the Placemark process.