diff --git a/src/unitvector.hh b/src/unitvector.hh
index 1fc9e8f944522e3851fd1aef8071b5ca6e04f071..f1b8186f19c99b5d4f5a125e61ae2730e51c23ff 100644
--- a/src/unitvector.hh
+++ b/src/unitvector.hh
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ public:
         return result;
     }
 
+    /** \brief The global coordinates, if you really want them */
+    const Dune::FieldVector<double,dim>& globalCoordinates() const {
+        return data_;
+    }
+
     /** \brief Write LocalKey object to output stream */
     friend std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& s, const UnitVector& unitVector)
     {