Editing Incubator escapee wiki:WikiProject Geographical coordinates (section)

==Usage guidelines==

:'''See also [[MOS:COORDS]]'''

In general, coordinates should be added to any article about a location, structure, or geographic feature that is more or less fixed in one place. Such items can vary in size from a single tree (or smaller) to entire oceans or continents. Coordinates should also be added to articles about events that are associated with a single location, for example, the [[Ufa train disaster]]. Guidelines for less obvious situations are given below.

Coordinates are appropriate for the top articles or within infoboxes of the following types of articles:
* Businesses/organizations with a single location (even if they are defunct)
* Demolished buildings/structures
* Buildings/structures that have been proposed, but not yet built (if there is a reliable source for the location)
* Permanently docked ships (and shipwrecks)

Do not add coordinates to the following types of articles:
* Biographies of living people
* Works of art (other than permanent outdoor statues, installations or murals)
* Sports teams (add to the stadium article instead)
* Businesses with multiple locations (although listing coords for individual locations in a table may be appropriate)
* Ships that are not permanently docked or sunk

Other types of articles may be decided on a case-by-case basis.

=== Which coordinates to use ===
[[National mapping agency|National mapping agencies]] such as the [[Geographic Names Information System]] (GNIS), [[Ordnance Survey]] (OS), and [[Geographical Names Board of Canada]] (GNBC) are usually [[WP:RS|reliable sources]] for coordinates. The [[GEOnet Names Server]] (GNS) database is not reliable. Always double check the coordinates on an internet mapping service. For other locations, the following points should be considered:
* For villages, towns, communities, etc., use the current centre. Where this is difficult, choose the earliest known settlement of that name.  Be aware that the GNIS coordinates may be an arbitrarily chosen civic feature, as that was the usual rule.
* For military and industrial establishments (e.g., castles, barracks, dockyards, car plants) use the main gate.
* For administrative districts, use the head office.
* For geographical features with an area, such as lakes, reservoirs, and islands, use a point reasonably in the center of the feature. (Remember not to specify too much precision; see [[#Precision guidelines|Precision guidelines]] below.)
* For linear features, see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates/Linear]].  Be aware that the GNIS primary coordinates will usually be of the feature "mouth" and thus may differ.