How Minecraft Coordinates Work | 2 Minutes Read for Complete Understanding!

Minecraft is an open-world survival game, and just like any other open-world game, the player has to locate their character’s position or specific place in the game. There are feature of coordinates, and among the players lies the questions, how Minecraft coordinates work?  

In this blog, we are going to tell you all about how Minecraft coordinate work in great details.

How to Access the Coordination Feature?

Minecraft has several versions, in this article, we will cover the most popular ones. For example, Java Version, Bedrock Version, and Pocket Edition. These methods will help in understanding how Minecraft coordinates work.

• Java Version: In this version, to get the coordination on your screen, you need to press the F3 key on Windows, or if using Mac, press FN + F3. Your current coordinates will appear in the format of “X/Y/Z”. This version does not display the exact coordinates because the numbers are rounded.

• Bedrock Version: Accessing the coordinates in this version is pretty simple. When creating your world, go to the ‘World’ options menu and turn on ‘show coordinates.’ You can turn them on even after creating the world by going to the main menu and clicking on the pen icon to edit the world.

• Pocket Edition: Go to the game ‘settings’ by pausing the game, selecting the ‘World’ option, and enabling the ‘Show Coordinates’ button.

In the Minecraft Bedrock Edition server, let other players check their Coordinates. As a server admin, you’ll have to type in “/gamerule showcoordinates true” (without quotation marks) in the console (“/” key).

Why Use the Coordinates in Minecraft?

Coordinates are a very useful feature when you need to locate a specific position in the world. It is used in locating a landmark like a “Woodland Mansion” or to find mines or other stuff to gather material.

Also, for copper ores, the coordinates are Y-coordinate 0 to 96. Diamond ores are found at Y-coordinate 16 to -64, etc. For the success of any mission, you need to learn how Minecraft coordinates work.

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How Minecraft Coordinates Work?

To understand how Minecraft coordinates work. There’s a bit of simple math behind it.

Minecraft uses the concept of X, Y, and Z coordinates, the 3-dimensional coordinate grid we learned in our math class. Those who know what a 3-dimensional coordinate grid is! Probably would’ve understood right away how to use Minecraft coordinates.

But those who ignored their math teacher when he was telling coordinates would be great help in practical life. Now that you are scratching your head in dismay, we’ve got your back! Let us explain how Minecraft coordinates work in detail.

There are three coordinate axes in a Cartesian coordinate system:

• X-axis
• Y-axis
• Z-axis

And just like any other coordinate system, there is a point of origin where all the axes meet [0, 0, 0] [X, Y, Z] and represent a distance from the point of origin. In easier words, the origin point is the center of the world, and the distance is measured through this 0, 0, 0 point.

So, in Minecraft, the location of some landmark or an object can be located using the XYZ-axes. This means, to know how far the object or place is from the point of origin; you measure the distance from the object to the point of origin.

In Minecraft, the X-coordinate represents the distance along the horizontal plane [East to West], exactly like in the real world.

• The distance East of the origin is expressed by a positive value of X, (+X)
• The distance West of the origin is expressed by a negative value of X, (-X)

The Y-coordinate represents the distance along the vertical plane [Up to Down], exactly like the longitude values of the real world.

• A positive value of Y, (+Y) expresses the distance Up from the origin
• A negative value of Y, (-Y) expresses the distance Down from the origin

The Z-coordinate represents the distance North and South of the origin.

• A positive value of Z, (+Z) expresses the distance South of the origin
• A negative value of Z, (-Z) expresses the distance North of the origin

Example of How Minecraft Coordinates Work

Here we have some simple examples to help you understand more deeply how Minecraft coordinates work or how to use the coordinates.

Let’s say the position on your Minecraft coordination bar is “Position: 8, 96, 4”

• These numbers represent your character’s distance from the origin point (0, 0, 0)
• X-coordinate = 8, which means your character is eight blocks east of the point of origin
• Y-coordinate = 96, which means your character is 96 blocks above the point of origin
• Z-coordinate = 4, which means four blocks south of the origin point

So from the above example, you can easily understand how Minecraft coordinates work.

The concept behind it is pretty simple and easy to understand. From the positive and negative values of XYZ, you can tell the character’s location.

We hope this article solved your problem in understanding coordination. If you got it right, you could also use this knowledge in real life, for example, while using GPS.