Title: [Plugin: Basic Google Maps Placemarks] Plugin changes the coordinates
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# [Plugin: Basic Google Maps Placemarks] Plugin changes the coordinates

 *  Resolved [Rob Zimmerman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rob-zimmerman/)
 * (@rob-zimmerman)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/)
 * Hi-
 * Is there a way to prevent the plugin from changing the coordinates that are entered?
   They coordinates that show up in the gray boxes are not the same as entered. 
   I know the coordinates I’ve entered are acceptable to Google Maps, as other Google
   Maps plugins I am trying load them fine.
 * Thanks!
 * Rob
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/basic-google-maps-placemarks/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/basic-google-maps-placemarks/)

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Ian Dunn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iandunn/)
 * (@iandunn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486397)
 * The FAQ has a link to a page that will give you the exact coordinates that Google
   Maps defines for a point. That might help.
 *  Thread Starter [Rob Zimmerman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rob-zimmerman/)
 * (@rob-zimmerman)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486412)
 * Hi Ian-
 * Thanks for the reply.
 * The page you mention gives me the same coordinates that Google Maps gives me 
   for a point. Those coordinates work by entering them directly into Google Maps,
   or any other Google Maps plugin I have tried. The problem seems to lie somewhere
   in the Placemarks plugin, as it is changing the coordinates entered. The coordinates
   that show up in the grayed-out boxes directly below the field are not the same
   as the coordinates entered. Again, this is not a problem with the actual placemarks
   rendered on the map, or the coordinates being entered, but with the entry field
   being modified by the plugin.
 * Thanks,
    Rob
 *  [Gillian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ridgididgi/)
 * (@ridgididgi)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486419)
 * Hi Ian
 * I have been getting around to raising this issue myself, as sometimes I don’t
   want to specify a place name but rather simply specify latitude and longitude
   co-ordinates. I have struck the same difficulty that Rob reports, whereby the
   co-ordinates entered are not faithfully returned (in one case, a point I wanted
   to place in the middle of the Pacific ended up on the Australian mainland!)
 * In the previous map plug-in that I was using ([Google Map Shortcode](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-map-shortcode/))
   there was a checkbox (unselected by default) next to where one could enter the
   latitude and longitude directly (as opposed to entering an address). Ticking 
   this checkbox asked the plug-in to “_Verify this latitude and longitude using
   Geocoding. This could overwrite the point address_.” By leaving the checkbox 
   unticked, exact latitude and longitude co-ordinates can be entered and returned.
   Ticking the checkbox, however, can result in an error (eg the address can’t be
   located) or incorrect location being returned.
 * Does your plug-in verify the latitude and longitude using Geocoding (or similar),
   and is this why the point address that Rob and I (and other people, from earlier
   threads here) are specifying is being over-written (sometimes by many degrees,
   especially where no landmarks/towns are nearby)?
 * If so, would it be possible to implement a similar checkbox to that above in 
   your plug-in?
 * Thanks in advance for looking into this.
 *  Plugin Author [Ian Dunn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iandunn/)
 * (@iandunn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486420)
 * Yeah, the value of the Address field is geocoded into coordinates (even if it
   already was a set of coordinates), and those coordinates are what are used to
   set a placemark on the map. It’s odd, though, because the plugin uses Google 
   Maps to do the geocoding.
 * Can you give me some examples of coordinates that are changed?
 *  [Gillian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ridgididgi/)
 * (@ridgididgi)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486421)
 * Hi Ian
 * Here’s the gross example that I alluded to earlier.
 * I input the latitude and longitude of
    -4.915833,-157.5 to position a marker (
   cruise ship) in the Pacific Ocean.
 * After saving the placemark, these were the latitude and longitude co-ordinates
   that the plug-in returned
    -22.7359095,140.0187653 and the cruise ship marker
   is on the Australian mainland!
 * In order to get the cruise ship close to where I wanted it, I had to use “Bay
   of Wreaks, Kiribati” as the address
    (which returned this latitude and logitude
   1.8616363,-157.3205418) and give up on using the latitude and longitude co-ordinates
   I preferred (I actually wanted an “at sea” marker to be “at sea”!).
 * If you look on this map
    [http://www.polioaustralia.org.au/?page_id=4733](http://www.polioaustralia.org.au/?page_id=4733)
   you’ll see two cruise ship markers (you’ll need to zoom out a bit and probably
   drag the map to the left to see the Kiribati marker). The cruise ship in the 
   Pacific was placed using the Kiribati address above, while the cruise ship on
   the Australian mainland was placed by attempting to input the -4.915833,-157.5
   latitude and longitude directly.
 * As I said earlier, this is a pretty gross example. Other changes to co-ordinates
   entered directly don’t seem to be as bad, but certainly they are “off” where 
   you entered them enough to be annoying.
 * Hopefully, being able to override geocoding for latitude and longitude points
   entered directly will be possible and should solve the issue.
 * Can you please let me know when you’ve finished looking at my example above because
   I’d like to remove the land-locked cruise ship before my site visitors wonder
   what I’m playing at 🙂
 *  Plugin Author [Ian Dunn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iandunn/)
 * (@iandunn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486430)
 * Thanks Ridgididgi, you can take it down now. I think the best approach, rather
   than adding an extra option for users, is to have the plugin automatically detect
   whether or not the entered address is a valid set of coordinates or not. If it
   is, then it can bypass the geocoding function, and if not, it’ll be geocoded.
 * I’ve added that to my TODO list.
 *  [Gillian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ridgididgi/)
 * (@ridgididgi)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486431)
 * Thanks, Ian. That’s great, I’ll look forward to this enhancement.
 * Also, thanks again for being so responsive to suggestions about your plug-in,
   it is greatly appreciated.
 *  Plugin Author [Ian Dunn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iandunn/)
 * (@iandunn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486432)
 * Version 1.6.1 has this implemented. See the revised FAQ for details on coordinate
   notation.
 *  [Gillian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ridgididgi/)
 * (@ridgididgi)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486433)
 * Hi Ian
 * That’s great news, thanks for the super-fast implementation – tested and working
   perfectly 🙂
 * Ridgididgi
 *  Thread Starter [Rob Zimmerman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rob-zimmerman/)
 * (@rob-zimmerman)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486450)
 * Excellent! Thank you so much for you responsiveness, Ian!
 * Thanks Ridgi for jumping in and helping out.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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   =1152531)
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 * 10 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Rob Zimmerman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rob-zimmerman/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-basic-google-maps-placemarks-plugin-changes-the-coordinates/#post-2486450)
 * Status: resolved