A stopwatch for space instead of time

April 13, 2019 2:23 PM

Can you recommend an iOS app (10.3.3 max) that allows you to record your location in the most rapid, direct, and idiotproof way possible? Something like a button that takes up most of the screen that you just tap once and done. It needs to save the location as lat/long coordinates. Ideally, it would have an option for displaying the recorded location in degrees and decimal minutes, but any of the degree-based notations would be acceptable.
posted by bricoleur to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Best answer: Bring up the Compass app, which displays lat and long, and take a screenshot.
posted by monotreme at 4:06 PM on April 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

I use iArrow for this, but it does take 3 taps (target button > current location > done). Also it seems to have disappeared from the US App Store, but may be available in other regions.
posted by doctord at 6:34 PM on April 13, 2019

Most GPS loggers have a function to set waypoints, and usually there is the option to set a waypoint at the current location. So you would get both a track of locations at set intervals (1 min, 5 mins) and the locations where you set the waypoints.

You don't say if you are doing this once, or many times. The edit/delete function for waypoints might be clumsy for frequent use.

One logger that does advertise waypoint function is GPS Tracker.
posted by SemiSalt at 1:18 PM on April 14, 2019

Response by poster: As it turns out, I was mistaken about being able to use coordinates in any conventional format--degrees and seconds (which is what Compass displays) aren't precise enough in this case (recording an anchor location). But the screenshot idea was genius, because it uses a simple manipulation of the phone itself without any need to read off the screen. I just had to find an app that displayed the coordinates as decimal degrees (wound up with the free version of My GPS Coordinates). Thanks everyone!
posted by bricoleur at 6:35 PM on April 22, 2019