It also takes an embed snippet, or a pair of raw coordinates.
Short link
A short link carries no coordinates: it is just a code that has to be exchanged with Google. That request would leave your browser — and the browser blocks it — so resolving it here would break the promise this page makes.
Open it in a tab, wait for the map to load and copy whatever ends up in the address bar: that is the long link.
What the link carries
The same point, on other maps
They are ordinary links: nothing is requested from any of those services until you click.
See the real map
The drawing above is painted here, with nothing requested from anyone. A street map is imagery that has to come from someone else’s server, so it only loads if you ask: on that click, and only then, this page talks to openstreetmap.org.
Embed on your site
No API key needed. It does load Google inside your visitors’ browsers, so if their privacy matters to you, load it only after a click.
How to use it
01
Copy the link in Google Maps
On a computer, the address bar itself will do. That is the URL carrying the most information.
02
Paste it above
The data appears as you paste. It also takes an embed snippet or a pair of raw coordinates.
03
Take what you need
Latitude and longitude in decimal, in degrees-minutes-seconds or as a Plus Code, plus the place identifiers.
04
Or the ready-made link
The same point on OpenStreetMap, Apple Maps or Waze, and the iframe to embed it without an API key.
What does a Maps link carry inside?
That string of exclamation marks and numbers is not noise: it is a named, ordered structure. Recognising it is all it takes to pull the data out without asking anyone for permission.
| Fragment | What it means |
|---|---|
| @4.6018,-74.0721,17z | The centre of the view and the zoom level. It moves when you drag the map. |
| !3d4.6018!4d-74.0695 | The coordinates of the place itself. These are the ones to use. |
| /place/Museo+del+Oro | The name Google has on file for the place. |
| !1s0x8e3f…:0x9a1b… | Feature ID. Its second half is the CID in hexadecimal. |
| ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsR… | Place ID, the public identifier of the listing. |
| !3e0 | Travel mode on a directions link: 0 driving, 1 cycling, 2 walking, 3 transit. |
| !2d-74.0695!3d4.6018 | An embedded map. Here the order is reversed: longitude first. |
What a link does not carry
The postal address, the phone number, the opening hours and the reviews are not in the link. That data has to be requested from Google one item at a time, with an access key and paying for each lookup. So when a tool offers it all for free, it is either burning somebody else’s key — and will stop working the day it gets cut off — or asking for yours without explaining what for.
What this page does give you are the identifiers of the place, which are the key to asking for the rest. With them, your own system can look it up with your own key, store it in your own database and stop asking for the same thing a thousand times over. That no longer fits in a browser tab: it is the work of connecting two systems, and it is what we do.
Frequently asked questions
Why does it not work with maps.app.goo.gl short links?
Because a short link contains no coordinates: it is only a code that has to be handed back to Google to get the long URL. That request would have to leave your browser, and the browser itself blocks it for security reasons (CORS). Open the link in a tab instead: once the map loads, the address bar shows the long URL. That is the one to paste here.
What is the difference between the place coordinates and the map centre?
The fragment starting with @ is the centre of the view, and it changes every time you drag the map — it can sit a hundred metres from the place. The real coordinates of the place come later, in the data block, as !3d (latitude) and !4d (longitude). This tool always prefers those when they are present, and tells you which of the two it found.
Is my link sent to a server?
No. The whole analysis is text handling: regular expressions over the URL, run in your browser. There is no network request, to Google or to us, and this site does not use tracking cookies either.
Can I get the address, the phone number or the reviews?
No — and be wary of anything that claims otherwise without asking you for a key: that data is not inside the URL. It comes from Google’s Places API, which is paid and needs credentials. What the link does carry is the name the place is filed under and its identifiers, which is exactly what you need to look it up afterwards.
What are the CID, the Place ID and the Feature ID?
Three ways of naming the same place. The Feature ID is a hexadecimal pair such as 0x8e3f…:0x9a1b…; its second half, in decimal, is the CID, which builds links of the form maps.google.com/?cid=. The Place ID — the codes starting with ChIJ — is the public identifier used by Google’s APIs. Not every link carries all three.
What is a Plus Code?
A short address computed from the coordinates, from the open Open Location Code standard. It identifies a rectangle roughly fourteen metres across and depends on no service: it is arithmetic, done right here, and it works in places that have neither a street nor a number.
Does the embed code need an API key?
No. The iframe this page builds uses the open embed mode of Maps, without a key. One thing to keep in mind: that iframe loads Google inside the browser of everyone who visits your site, so in practice you are handing a third party your visitors’ data. If that matters to you — and in Europe it usually does — load it only after a click.
Does it work with links other than Google Maps?
For the basics, yes. It also reads coordinates from OpenStreetMap, Apple Maps, Waze and Bing Maps links, and accepts coordinates typed by hand in decimal or in degrees, minutes and seconds, with N/S/E/W in either order.
And if this has to happen a thousand times a day?
Pasting one link by hand is fine for one. When it is a whole fleet or a catalogue of branches, what you need is a process that does it on its own and speaks up when something does not add up.
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