Columbus North Dakota Map
Explore Columbus, North Dakota, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
Interactive Map of Columbus, North Dakota
How to Use This Columbus, North Dakota Map
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Columbus, North Dakota. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of North Dakota or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Columbus.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Columbus |
| State | North Dakota (ND) |
| County | Burke County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| Latitude | 48.904199 |
| Longitude | -102.780453 |
| Population | 139 |
| Density | 196.6 /km² |
| Incorporated | Yes |
| ZIP Code | 58727 |
| Area Code | 701 |
| County Seat | Bowbells |
| School District | Burke Central Public School District 36 |
About Columbus, North Dakota
Columbus is a locality in Burke County, North Dakota, United States. It is a small community with a population of 139. The population density is 196.6 people per km². Columbus is located at 48.9042°N, 102.7805°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. Columbus is an incorporated locality. ZIP code: 58727.Columbus emerges from the vast, open prairie as a quiet settlement defined by the immense scale of the North Dakota sky. It lies 64.9 miles northeast of Williston, ND (from Williston, ND: bearing 36°T), and is situated 44.3 miles north-northwest of Stanley. The horizon stretches thin and flat, broken only by the silhouettes of grain elevators that mark the landscape like sentinels of the harvest. A few miles to the west, the winding path of East Branch Short Creek carves a subtle, verdant ribbon through the earth, while the distant, muted elevation of Grand View provides a solitary anchor for the gaze. When the sun begins its long, slow retreat, the light catches the dry grasses, turning the fields into a sea of amber and bruised violet, emphasizing the profound stillness that defines the rhythm of this northern plateau.
Columbus maintains a character forged by the persistence of agricultural cycles and the fluctuating pulse of the regional energy industry. Residents live in close proximity to the Short Creek, where the land is preserved in its wilder, uncultivated state, offering a sanctuary for those who appreciate the stark, unadorned beauty of the plains. Life in Columbus moves in accordance with the seasons, from the frantic activity of the fall threshing to the deep, muffled silence of winter, when the world seems to contract toward the warmth of hearth and home. Though Shallow Lake lies nine miles away, the life of the people here remains tethered to the soil and the hard-won resilience required to thrive in a climate that demands both patience and grit.
Nearby Outdoor Places
- Short Creek (State Conservation Area) — 5.6 mi, 002° N
- Burke County Waterfowl Production Area (Resource Management Area) — 6.9 mi, 104° E
- Harris M. Baukol (State Conservation Area) — 7.4 mi, 257° W
- Divide County Waterfowl Production Area (Resource Management Area) — 11.3 mi, 231° SW
- Smishek Lake (State Recreation Area) — 19.7 mi, 162° S
- Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 20.4 mi, 140° SE · 55k acres
- Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge_Wilderness Area (Wilderness Area) — 20.4 mi, 140° SE · 5,522 acres
- Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 26.2 mi, 077° E · 28k acres
- Sakakawea Recreation Area (Recreation Area) — 50.8 mi, 184° S
- Little Missouri National Grassland (National Grassland) — 54.6 mi, 181° S · 1.0M acres
- Lewis And Clark State Park (State Park) — 57.0 mi, 201° S
- Montana State Trust Lands (State Resource Management Area) — 57.6 mi, 273° W
- Sloulin Field International Airport (historic) (Historic Ruins) — 63.8 mi, 218° SW
- Monument 670A (Attraction) — 64.7 mi, 084° E
- Manitoba - Saskatchewan boundary (Monument) — 64.7 mi, 084° E
- Gn 3059 (Attraction) — 65.1 mi, 216° SW
- Six Shooters Showall (Cinema) — 79.6 mi, 197° S
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About This Columbus Map Page
This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Columbus, North Dakota. Coordinates: 48.904199, -102.780453. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Columbus includes the ZIP code (58727), telephone area code (701), county seat of Burke County (Bowbells), and school district assignment (Burke Central Public School District 36).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |
