Template talk:Coord missing

Comments
Here are my comments:
 * 1) I prefer prose country over ISO country code...It's easier for the general person to understand.
 * 2) The wording: "Coordinates needed: please add them!" Link "coordinates" to our wikiproject and "please add them" to the edit bar of the page (?)
 * 3) Make the category hidden.

Cheers,  Spencer T♦C 13:05, 20 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think linking to the edit bar will help most casual users as they're not likely to have the coordinates to hand. More familiar users can use the adjacent edit link, anyway. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:09, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Discussion
I have opened a discussion on this templates inclusion in articles (main space) at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Geographical coordinates. cygnis insignis 10:18, 6 October 2008 (UTC) Discussion is now being centralised at the section Objections. cygnis insignis 21:19, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Isn't it time that this template, whose usefulness has been unarguably demonstrated, was displayed on pages? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:49, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Code improvements
I see that this template is being put on articles in a massive scale. As I have stated in other places I disagree with that. Such an action should seek much broader consensus before being done.

But this template should anyway use as good code as possible. So I copied its code to its /sandbox and added some improvements:
 * I added the "metadata" class so this template doesn't print to paper.
 * I added a unique class name so this template can be styled and javascript can recognise that it isn't coordinates but the coord missing template that is placed on the page. That can be useful in a number of ways. Per good tradition here at Wikipedia I used the template's name for that class name:
 * I made it so the template only categorises when in main (article) space. So pages that only demonstrate the template don't get categorised.
 * I added the missing.
 * And some other fixes.

I will deploy these fixes to the template today or tomorrow.

Are there any specific reasons why the template links to a redirect instead of directly to the target page?

--David Göthberg (talk) 06:44, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I have no problem with any of the proposed changes. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 16:47, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


 * ✅ Done - I have now applied the fixes I suggested above. And yes, I have been on a wikivacation.
 * Disclaimer: This does in no way mean I agree with the usage of this template.
 * This template really would need proper error reporting. That is, if/when people feed it parameters that cause it to try to categorise into non-existing categories, then it should report into an error reporting category. So you guys can find and fix such cases. But that is a bit more coding so I won't fix that for you, at least not today.
 * --David Göthberg (talk) 01:24, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

More than one place
I was wondering if the following functionality could be implemented: Let's say there's a bridge on a country's border (ie from USA to Canada). Instead of using two templates {coord missing|Canada} and {coord missing|United States} or using North America as the parameter. It would be nice to be able to add {coord missing|United States|Canada} and have the template put the article into both categories. Thoughts? §hep  •   ¡Talk to me!  20:06, 25 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Also, category: should be capitalized. §hep   •   ¡Talk to me!  20:08, 25 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I suspect that this scenario applies to so few articles that it's not worth the effort of encoding it. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:52, 25 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I've come back again with the same request. Now that the template is sorting states I've came across over 35 articles just doing Ohio that need another state used.  Mostly on bridges that cross over the Ohio River.  Since it was requested to break out every state and break out the UK I think this functionality is needed. I understand what I'm asking for isn't the easiest thing to do, so if the people who monitor this page don't think they can do it; I'll poke around elsewhere. Thanks.  §hep   •   ¡Talk to me!  19:00, 22 November 2008 (UTC)


 * ✅ Done - Handling a second parameter is very easy to add. So I just added it together with the other fixes I just did. This template now supports two parameters, and then puts the article into both categories. If you need more parameters that is very easy to add too.
 * Disclaimer: This does in no way mean I agree with the usage of this template.
 * --David Göthberg (talk) 01:24, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Region codes
I've added a note about region codes to a few category pages (examples:, , ) and invite others to do the same, for the convenience of editors who wish to add coordinates to articles in those categories.

That said, I still think it would be better if the template's implementation used the region (and type) parameter from coord, so that editors can just drop in latitude & longitude values. For example:



is more easily be converted to:



than is:



with the parameters in the former being used to generate categories, and otherwse ignored. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:57, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Articles with coor URL &rarr; removal ?
✅ As people add coordinates, sometimes they forget to remove coord missing. I was wondering whether bots should remove automatically coord missing from any article that already has a set of coordinates. This is most likely indicated by the presence of coor URL. -- User:Docu


 * I put up a query for this: ~para/cgi-bin/coordmissing+coorurl. At the moment there are about 1000 articles with both templates. Since the template is invisible and most editors won't notice to remove it, we better have a bot remove it from these articles. --Para (talk) 22:36, 11 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Ok, I will run an update later today. -- User:Docu


 * It's completed. -- User:Docu


 * The solution above would prevent this. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:53, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Coord missing transcluded in other templates
Template:Infobox Russian federal subject2 was modified today to transclude coord missing directly. An editor removed coord missing from articles and added it there instead.

For categorization, this doesn't make a difference, but I'm not sure how it is for other uses. The daily statistics are likely to work too, but it would prevent coordinates from other language to be imported (WP:GEO). Thus I think we should add the template directly to articles instead of other templates. -- User:Docu


 * Template:Infobox Russian federal subject2 doesn't work correctly if the article already has a (coord), e.g. Krasnoyarsk Krai uses coord missing despite having coordinates. This wont work correctly with the daily statistics. -- User:Docu
 * In that article, coord was used separately from the infobox; it has nothing to do with transclusion errors. Moving the coordinates from coord to the infobox fixed that problem.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 18:16, May 8, 2009 (UTC)
 * Are you going to follow up on the others as well? -- User:Docu

From my point of view, that's a really bad development: ensuring articles have coordinates and ensuring that those coordinates are in the article infoboxes are two related but diffent tasks. In particular it will break my bots' current logic and workflow, which relies, among other things, on the coord missing categories only being generated by coord missing templates which are directly present in articles. Accordingly, I've backed off the change for now.

Before we do anything more like this, we should think about it more carefully, and make sure that everything can interoperate properly before we go any further. At the moment, I think we should have a separate set of categories for this sort of thing. That way, we could use the intersection of the two categories to support a bot-driven effort to merge the coordinates into the templates, where appropriate. -- The Anome (talk) 15:20, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Use of this template on parliamentary constituencies
I am concerned that the application of geographical co-ordinates (or of coord missing tags) to articles on parliamentary constituencies may be misleading to readers. There seems to be a lot of this underway at the moment. I have opened a centralised discussion on this at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Geographical coordinates#Use of co-ordinates in parliamentary constituencies, and would welcome further input.

Thanks! -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:28, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Objects described by multiple coordinates
Some objects ( roads, railways, power lines, etc.) are described by multiple points. How can they best handled? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.46.189.32 (talk) 12:49, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
 * There are draft proposals at WikiProject_Geographical_coordinates/Linear. Andy Mabbett (User: Pigsonthewing ); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 15:25, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

What if location unknown?
What if the exact location of the place is unknown? For example, in the case of ancient cities recorded in written sources but not yet located? Should the tag stay or is to be removed? --TakenakaN (talk) 11:44, 16 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Please remove it. Andy Mabbett (User: Pigsonthewing ); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:59, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

What about in the similar case that a location is in the process of moving, or there is some expectation that there will be a coordinate in the future, but none at the moment. Should there be an extra parameter for this case, or should the template just be removed? It's a little disheartening to be trawling through lists of articles with missing coordinates to find that a lot of them don't currently have a valid location (KaisoPan (talk) 19:30, 3 May 2016 (UTC))

coord missing|Kosovo
can we use that? Kosovo is not recognised as a country, but it has its own wikiproject. I would like to track the coord missing in kosovo so I can add them in from openstreetmap. James Michael DuPont 20:00, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 65.26.219.117, 26 December 2010
edit protected

Coordinates are not currently included. They are 42.90,-87.86

65.26.219.117 (talk) 23:10, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

actually coord is 42.92,-87.87

65.26.219.117 (talk) 23:19, 26 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Request makes no sense. IP editor appears to be confused as to what Coord missing does. --Seattle Skier (talk) 07:39, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Extend to File: namespace
It should be possible for items like this -

to be geo-located.

I'd therefore like to request that the Coord missing tag be extended for File: namespace, to help identify images which could be geolocated. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 10:22, 15 July 2012 (UTC)


 * That's a really interesting idea! Can you raise this at the geographic coordinates WikiProject talk page? -- The Anome (talk) 12:12, 15 July 2012 (UTC)


 * I left a courtesy notification there Sfan00 IMG (talk) 19:11, 15 July 2012 (UTC)


 * OK: my first observation about this is that the vast majority of images on Wikipedia, particularly of publicly-visible objects, are hosted on Wikimedia Commons, and that for that reason we will eventually need to bring this suggestion to the Commons community. Once we have something workable there, anything used on Commons can of course then be used on File: pages in the English-language Wikipedia. Given that, I think it may make sense to take this directly to that venue, as soon as we have hammered out a reasonable straw man proposal here on enwiki:


 * Secondly, we should make a distinction between coordinates that are entered by the original photographer (which will have the advantage of first-hand data collection, and might include the location of the camera and camera direction, either in addition to, or instead of, the location of the actual object itself), and approximate coordinates that are added after the fact by another editor, based on knowing roughly where the photographed object is.


 * Thirdly, making a list of suitable images to be tagged seems to be reasonably feasible using similar mechanisms to the ones I'm using already on this English-language Wikipedia: I'll need to apply for bot editing rights there to do this properly.


 * Finally, this is potentially very useful indeed. Locating pictures on Commons will enable these coordinates to be reused on every project that re-uses these images, and can also tie in with vast numbers of other public big-data projects, by allowing them to be tied to maps, to other images of the same things elsewhere on the web, and, given enough pictures of the same thing in a single place, even to generate 3D models of the objects being photographed using Photosynth-style cross-correlation and bundle adjustment processing. -- The Anome (talk) 13:43, 15 July 2012 (UTC)


 * It is my understanding that the location template on Commons is solely for the camera location (not usually the definitive location of the object). Some means of holding the object's position is also needed. For example, camera location of Snowdon is not useful for locating the mountain itself. Oosoom Talk 18:04, 15 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Hence my second point in my reply above. Maybe we should have a template called something like coord object for this. -- The Anome (talk) 01:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Since many pictures depict more than one object, and on occasion a large area, it would be a good idea to have a way of identifying the location of particular objects and possibly the portion of the picture in which the object is depicted (a la ImageAnnotator). --U5K0'sTalkMake WikiLove not WikiWar 20:46, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Commons has two (sets of) coordinate templates; one for camera location and one for object location. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:34, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Checking Wikidata for coordinates
There are a few cases where coordinates might be available on Wikidata, even when they are missing on the English Wikipedia. It might make sense for this template to check if the property coordinate (P625) exists for the Wikidata item, and categorise the page accordingly. I created an example of this in the sandbox.--eh bien mon prince (talk) 14:05, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
 * , (top contributors) for an opinion.--eh bien mon prince (talk) 15:37, 7 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Interesting. I'll take a look. -- The Anome (talk) 15:56, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Are the coords missing if the object's location is unknown?
Hi all, do we still include coord missing even when the object's location is unknown? I'm thinking specifically of BRAZILIAN BATTLESHIP São Paulo‎, which sank in the middle of the Atlantic without a trace and isn't likely to be found anytime soon, if ever. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 13:16, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

It's not clear when to use this template
While it's obvious that this template should be invoked in Articles dealing with cities, towns, villages etc, the Usage Section should also describe what kind of pages should this template be extended to? For example, should this template be included in a Kingdom's Article? Or a Country's? Chaos1618 (talk) 09:30, 10 October 2018 (UTC)

Coordinates from Wikidata
I've seen this template added to some articles that I've created recently (e.g. Porretta Terme railway station). I had intentionally decided not to insert coordinates into these articles, as they're already present on Wikidata, and I thought it would be a bad practice to duplicate such information. Did I get something wrong? --Fabio Bettani (talk) 14:34, 20 December 2021 (UTC)