Nothing kills your momentum faster than typing a birthplace into Jagannatha Hora and getting that frustrating “Location Not Found” message. You know the city exists. Google knows it exists. But JHora acts like it’s never heard of the place.
I’ve been there more times than I can count, especially when casting charts for clients from smaller towns or recently renamed cities. The good news? There’s a simple workaround that takes about 30 seconds once you know what to do.
Why Your City Isn’t Showing Up
Before we jump into the fix, let’s talk about why this happens in the first place.
JHora comes in two installation sizes. The smaller download weighs around 3.7MB and includes only major metropolitan areas. The full version is a hefty 102MB package containing over two million locations worldwide. Most people grab the smaller file without realizing they’re getting a stripped down atlas.
Beyond installation size, certain places simply never made it into the database. Think about villages, newly formed municipalities, or areas that changed names after administrative reshuffling. The atlas data comes from geographical databases that were compiled years ago, so anything that emerged or transformed recently might be missing entirely.
Spelling variations cause headaches too. A city might appear under its older colonial name rather than its current official title. Trying alternate spellings often reveals locations that seemed invisible moments earlier.
The Quick Manual Entry Method
Here’s the practical solution when your location refuses to appear.
Open the birth data entry screen by pressing Ctrl+D or clicking the data icon in your toolbar. In the place field, type any nearby city that JHora actually recognizes. This could be a state capital, a major town in the same district, or even a well known city in a neighboring region.
Once you select that recognized location, the software automatically fills in latitude, longitude, and timezone information. Now comes the important part. You can manually edit those coordinate fields with your actual location’s numbers.
The latitude field accepts values between negative 90 and positive 90. Southern hemisphere locations use negative numbers. Longitude runs from negative 180 to positive 180, with western locations taking negative values.
JHora expects coordinates in a specific format that trips people up constantly. You enter degrees and minutes as a decimal number, not the traditional degree symbol format. A location at 28 degrees 36 minutes North becomes 28.36 in the latitude field. Drop the seconds entirely since they don’t meaningfully affect chart calculations.
If you’re pulling coordinates from Google Maps, you’ll get pure decimal format like 28.6139. To convert this, take just the decimal portion (0.6139), multiply by 60 to get minutes (36.8), then enter 28.37 in JHora. Close enough for astrological purposes.
Getting the Timezone Right
The timezone field uses similar decimal logic. Indian Standard Time at UTC plus 5 hours 30 minutes enters as 5.30, not 5.5 or 5:30. American Eastern Standard Time goes in as negative 5.0. Australian Eastern time during daylight saving becomes 11.0.
Always double check this field after entering manual coordinates. The reference city you initially selected might sit in a different timezone than your actual location, especially if you picked something in a neighboring country or across a timezone boundary.
Making Your Location Permanent
Entering coordinates manually works fine for one chart. But what if you cast multiple charts for the same location regularly? Maybe it’s your hometown, your consultation office, or a city where many of your clients live.
JHora lets you save any location as your default. After entering the correct coordinates in a chart, go to the Preferences menu and select the option to set current location as default. Then, critically, save your preferences from the same menu. Without that second step, your settings vanish when you close the program.
Restarting JHora after saving confirms whether the default actually stuck. This saved location becomes your starting point for new charts and applies automatically to prasna consultations.
Where JHora Stores Its Data
Understanding the file structure helps when troubleshooting persistent problems.
The main installation folder sits in Program Files on 32 bit systems or Program Files x86 on 64 bit Windows. Inside this directory, the jhcore subfolder contains the main preference file called jhora.ini. This plain text file stores your default location alongside every other customized setting.
The data subfolder houses the cities database in CSV format plus any chart files you’ve saved. Chart files carry the .jhd extension and can be backed up or shared between computers.
Windows security features sometimes redirect file saves to a virtual store location buried in your user profile’s AppData folder. If saved charts seem to disappear mysteriously, check that virtualized location.
You can export your entire preference configuration through the File menu. This creates a backup file you can import on another computer or restore after reinstalling the software.
Dealing with Historical Charts and Time Zones
Older birth dates create special challenges because standardized time zones only became widespread in the late 1800s. A chart from 1850 shouldn’t use modern timezone conventions at all.
JHora includes an option to calculate Local Mean Time directly from longitude instead of relying on timezone databases. Look for the LMT checkbox in the birth data screen. When enabled, the software calculates time offset purely from geographical position, which produces more accurate results for pre modern dates.
This same approach helps with locations near timezone boundaries where the official timezone might not reflect actual local time practices.
Finding Accurate Coordinates
Several reliable methods exist for looking up coordinates when your atlas fails.
Wikipedia pages for cities typically display coordinates near the top of the article. These come formatted in degrees and minutes already, making them easy to enter directly.
Google Maps lets you right click any spot and view its coordinates. Remember these come in decimal format requiring conversion.
Dedicated coordinate lookup websites maintain databases of cities worldwide with pre formatted numbers ready for astrology software.
Government geographical survey sites provide the most authoritative data, though navigating them takes more effort.
When Nothing Seems to Work
If coordinates keep resetting or timezone calculations look wrong even after manual entry, check your Windows system timezone setting. JHora reads your computer’s clock in universal time and converts based on multiple factors. A mismatch between Windows configuration and chart settings produces confusing results.
Preference file corruption occasionally causes settings to misbehave. Renaming the jhora.ini file and restarting the software forces creation of a fresh configuration. You’ll lose your customizations but gain a clean starting point.
Running JHora as administrator sometimes resolves permission issues preventing preference saves, especially on corporate or heavily secured computers.
Upgrading to the Full Installation
The most permanent solution is simply downloading the complete installation package. That 102MB file eliminates location lookup failures for the vast majority of cities worldwide.
The full version includes the complete Swiss Ephemeris data files spanning thousands of years in both directions. Combined with the expanded atlas, you’ll rarely encounter missing location errors again.
Uninstall your existing JHora version before installing the full package to avoid file conflicts. Your saved charts in the data folder remain untouched through reinstallation as long as you don’t delete them manually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Jagannatha Hora say location not found?
This usually happens because you installed the smaller 3.7MB version of JHora, which only includes major metropolitan areas. The full 102MB installation contains over two million cities worldwide. Other causes include spelling variations (try older or alternate names for your city), recent municipal name changes, or small villages that simply never made it into the geographical database.
How do I enter coordinates manually in JHora?
Press Ctrl+D to open the birth data screen. Select any nearby city that JHora recognizes, then manually overwrite the latitude and longitude fields with your actual location’s coordinates. You can find coordinates through Google Maps, Wikipedia, or dedicated coordinate lookup websites.
What format does JHora use for latitude and longitude?
JHora uses a decimal format combining degrees and minutes. Enter 28 degrees 36 minutes as 28.36, not 28°36′ or 28.6. Southern latitudes and western longitudes take negative values. Seconds can be dropped since they barely affect chart accuracy.
How do I save my location as default in Jagannatha Hora?
After entering your coordinates in a chart, go to Preferences and select the option to set current location as default. Then save your preferences from the same menu. Restart JHora to confirm the setting saved correctly. This default will apply to all new charts and prasna calculations.
Should I download the full or short JHora installation?
Download the full 102MB installation if you work with clients from diverse locations or smaller towns. The short version saves disk space but causes constant “location not found” errors for anything outside major cities. The full version also includes complete ephemeris data for extended date ranges.
Final Thoughts
The “Location Not Found” error feels like a brick wall until you realize JHora happily accepts manual coordinate entry. Once you understand the decimal format for latitude, longitude, and timezone values, adding any location takes moments.
Keep your preference file backed up through the export function. Note down coordinates for locations you use frequently. Consider upgrading to the full installation if you work with diverse geographical areas regularly.
The software’s flexibility makes up for its database limitations. Every location on Earth can produce an accurate chart as long as you feed JHora the right numbers.