Anyone who’s spent more than a few hours playing No Man’s Sky knows how easy it is to get disoriented after a handful of random warp jumps. I can’t count how many times I stumbled on a perfect sentinel-free planet with endless activated indium hotspots, only to forget where it was a week later when I finally had the resources to build a large base. That all stopped once I learned how to use coordinates in No Man’s Sky. These short alphanumeric strings are the only consistent way to mark and find exact locations across the game’s near-infinite, procedurally generated galaxy, no matter what platform or game mode you play on.
How to Use Coordinates in No Man’s Sky for Basic Navigation
First, you need to know how to find your current coordinates at any time. Pull up your analysis visor by holding down the corresponding input on your controller or keyboard, and look at the bottom left corner of your screen. You’ll see a string of characters separated by colons and hyphens, that’s your current exact coordinate, including your galactic region, star system, planet, and specific surface position. You can screenshot this string or jot it down manually to save the location for later.
To use a coordinate someone else shared, open your galaxy map and navigate to the search tab. Type or paste the full coordinate string into the search bar, and the map will automatically pin the exact location for you. You can then set a waypoint to warp directly to that system, and once you arrive, the coordinate will lead you to the exact spot on the planet’s surface. You don't need to complete any main story missions to access coordinate search functionality, it’s available from the very start of the game for all players.
It’s worth noting that standard coordinates work across all platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch players can all use the same coordinate strings to find the same locations, as long as they’re playing on the same game version. Glyph addresses used for portals are a separate system, but most shared community locations will list both coordinate strings and glyph sequences for convenience.
Top Use Cases for Coordinates in Your No Man’s Sky Playthrough
Coordinates are far more versatile than just saving your favorite base spots. I use them nearly every time I log into the game, for everything from casual exploration to speeding up my endgame grind. Here are some of the most useful ways to put them to work:
- Hunting for rare resources and S-class upgrades: Thousands of active community members share coordinates for hotspots of high-value resources like activated indium and runaway mold, plus S-class multi-tool cabinets, freighter spawns, and exotic ship locations. Using these shared coordinates can cut dozens of hours of random grinding out of your playthrough.
- Meeting up with friends in multiplayer: The in-game friend join feature is notoriously glitchy, especially if you and your friend are in different galactic regions or playing on different servers. Sharing a coordinate string lets you both warp to the exact same spot in minutes, no join errors required.
- Saving unique locations you want to return to later: Found a planet with bioluminescent forests, floating islands, and no aggressive fauna? Jot down its coordinates before you leave, even if you don’t have a base computer on hand to place a permanent marker. You can come back any time later to build, farm, or just explore more.
I relied heavily on shared coordinates when I started my last survival mode playthrough. I found a community-shared coordinate for an S-class hauler spawn just 3 systems away from the starting galaxy, and I was able to grab it within my first two hours of play, saving me weeks of farming units to buy a lower grade hauler. Just make sure you double check the coordinate string before you enter it, even one wrong character will send you to a completely unrelated part of the galaxy.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Coordinates
Even though coordinates are simple to use, there are a few common missteps that can lead to frustration, especially for new players. The first big one is confusing standard coordinate strings with portal glyph addresses. Glyph addresses are 12-symbol sequences you input at portals to travel instantly across the galaxy, while standard coordinate strings are used in the galaxy map search bar. If someone shares only a glyph sequence, you won’t be able to use it in the standard search function, and vice versa.
Another common mistake is relying on coordinates shared before major game updates. Hello Games occasionally tweaks galaxy generation settings during large content drops, which can change planet terrain, resource spawns, or even remove small systems entirely. Coordinates shared after the Frontiers update are almost always compatible with current game builds, but any coordinates from before 2021 may not work as expected.
You also don’t want to forget to mark the location once you arrive at a shared coordinate. A lot of players warp to a spot, grab the S-class ship or resource they came for, then leave without setting a custom waypoint or placing a base computer. I did this once with a rare void egg spawn point, and I still haven’t been able to find that same system again, even after scrolling through hours of old community posts to find the original coordinate.
Advanced Coordinate Tips for Veteran Players
If you’ve been playing No Man’s Sky for a while, you can use coordinates to streamline your playthrough even more. For example, if you’re planning a long exploration trip across multiple regions, you can line up coordinates for all the spots you want to visit ahead of time, then sort them by distance on your galaxy map to create the shortest possible route. This cuts down on the number of warp cells you need to craft, and saves you hours of travel time.
You can sort pinned coordinate locations by distance from your current position in the galaxy map to cut down on travel time by selecting the “sort by distance” filter in your pinned locations tab. This is especially useful if you’re hunting for multiple rare resources in one play session, or trying to hit several community build spots in a row.
If you play permadeath mode, it’s always a good idea to cross-check any shared coordinates with community notes before you warp. Some shared coordinates may lead to systems with high pirate spawn rates, extreme weather planets, or aggressive sentinel activity that can get you killed before you even have time to react. A quick check of the original post’s comments will usually tell you if the spot is safe for permadeath runs.
If you share coordinates with the community yourself, always add a few quick notes about what’s at the location, what game mode you tested it on, and any relevant warnings like frequent pirate attacks or extreme storms. This makes your shared coordinates far more useful for other players, and helps cut down on confusion from outdated or incorrectly listed spots.
At the end of the day, learning how to use coordinates in No Man's Sky turns a chaotic, randomly generated galaxy into a space you can navigate intentionally, no matter what your playstyle is. You don’t have to be a hardcore player to benefit from them either: even casual players can use shared coordinates to find fun, unique spots they would never stumble on by accident, from tropical paradise planets to weird, glitchy worlds that defy all logic. Next time you find a spot you love, take two seconds to jot down its coordinate string, you’ll thank yourself later when you want to come back.