diff --git a/src/front/wgsl/mod.rs b/src/front/wgsl/mod.rs
index 7379b51fd6..6acb711a17 100644
--- a/src/front/wgsl/mod.rs
+++ b/src/front/wgsl/mod.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use crate::{
     proc::{
         ensure_block_returns, Alignment, Layouter, ResolveContext, ResolveError, TypeResolution,
     },
+    span::SourceLocation,
     span::Span as NagaSpan,
     Bytes, ConstantInner, FastHashMap, ScalarValue,
 };
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ use self::{
 };
 use codespan_reporting::{
     diagnostic::{Diagnostic, Label},
-    files::{Files, SimpleFile},
+    files::SimpleFile,
     term::{
         self,
         termcolor::{ColorChoice, ColorSpec, StandardStream, WriteColor},
@@ -1367,17 +1368,10 @@ impl ParseError {
 
     /// Returns the 1-based line number and column of the first label in the
     /// error message.
-    pub fn location(&self, source: &str) -> (usize, usize) {
-        let files = SimpleFile::new("wgsl", source);
-        match self.labels.get(0) {
-            Some(label) => {
-                let location = files
-                    .location((), label.0.start)
-                    .expect("invalid span location");
-                (location.line_number, location.column_number)
-            }
-            None => (1, 1),
-        }
+    pub fn location(&self, source: &str) -> Option<SourceLocation> {
+        self.labels
+            .get(0)
+            .map(|label| NagaSpan::new(label.0.start as u32, label.0.end as u32).location(source))
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/span.rs b/src/span.rs
index 0c60ee005c..2637e9d73c 100644
--- a/src/span.rs
+++ b/src/span.rs
@@ -59,6 +59,22 @@ impl Span {
     pub fn is_defined(&self) -> bool {
         *self != Self::default()
     }
+
+    /// Returns the 1-based line number and column of the this span in
+    /// the provided source.
+    pub fn location(&self, source: &str) -> SourceLocation {
+        let prefix = &source[..self.start as usize];
+        let line_number = prefix.matches('\n').count() as u32 + 1;
+        let line_start = prefix.rfind('\n').map(|pos| pos + 1).unwrap_or(0);
+        let line_position = source[line_start..self.start as usize].chars().count() as u32 + 1;
+
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number,
+            line_position,
+            offset: self.start,
+            length: self.end - self.start,
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl From<Range<usize>> for Span {
@@ -70,6 +86,22 @@ impl From<Range<usize>> for Span {
     }
 }
 
+/// A human-readable representation for span, tailored for text source.
+///
+/// Corresponds to the positional members of `GPUCompilationMessage` from the WebGPU specification,
+/// using utf8 instead of utf16 as reference encoding.
+#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub struct SourceLocation {
+    /// 1-based line number.
+    pub line_number: u32,
+    /// 1-based column of the start of this span
+    pub line_position: u32,
+    /// 0-based Offset in code units (in bytes) of the start of the span.
+    pub offset: u32,
+    /// Length in code units (in bytes) of the span.
+    pub length: u32,
+}
+
 /// A source code span together with "context", a user-readable description of what part of the error it refers to.
 pub type SpanContext = (Span, String);
 
@@ -186,6 +218,20 @@ impl<E> WithSpan<E> {
         res.spans.extend(self.spans);
         res
     }
+
+    #[cfg(feature = "span")]
+    pub fn location(&self, source: &str) -> Option<SourceLocation> {
+        if self.spans.is_empty() {
+            return None;
+        }
+
+        Some(self.spans[0].0.location(source))
+    }
+
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "span"))]
+    pub fn location(&self, source: &str) -> Option<SourceLocation> {
+        None
+    }
 }
 
 /// Convenience trait for [`Error`] to be able to apply spans to anything.
@@ -273,3 +319,107 @@ impl<T, E, E2> MapErrWithSpan<E, E2> for Result<T, WithSpan<E>> {
         self.map_err(|e| e.and_then(func).into_other::<E2>())
     }
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn span_location() {
+    let source = "12\n45\n\n89\n";
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 0, end: 1 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 1,
+            line_position: 1,
+            offset: 0,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 1, end: 2 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 1,
+            line_position: 2,
+            offset: 1,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 2, end: 3 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 1,
+            line_position: 3,
+            offset: 2,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 3, end: 5 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 2,
+            line_position: 1,
+            offset: 3,
+            length: 2
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 4, end: 6 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 2,
+            line_position: 2,
+            offset: 4,
+            length: 2
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 5, end: 6 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 2,
+            line_position: 3,
+            offset: 5,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 6, end: 7 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 3,
+            line_position: 1,
+            offset: 6,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 7, end: 8 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 4,
+            line_position: 1,
+            offset: 7,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 8, end: 9 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 4,
+            line_position: 2,
+            offset: 8,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 9, end: 10 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 4,
+            line_position: 3,
+            offset: 9,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        Span { start: 10, end: 11 }.location(source),
+        SourceLocation {
+            line_number: 5,
+            line_position: 1,
+            offset: 10,
+            length: 1
+        }
+    );
+}