Google Maps URL

This is current accepted way to link to a specific lat lon (rather than search for the nearest object).

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=m&q=loc:38.9419+-78.3020  

• z is the zoom level (1-20)
• t is the map type ("m" map, "k" satellite, "h" hybrid, "p" terrain, "e" GoogleEarth)
• q is the search query, if it is prefixed by loc: then google assumes it is a lat lon separated by a+