When is ESTAR used to talk about location?

ESTAR is the most common word to talk about location in Spanish because it expresses the location of material entities (people, animals, objects & places).

• Los jugadores están en el estadio.
  The players are in the stadium.
  
• El auto está en el taller mecánico.
  The car is in the shop.
  
• ¿Quiénes estuvieron en la fiesta?
  Who was at the party?
  
• Mendoza está en Argentina.
  Mendoza is in Argentina.
  
• Portland está en Oregon.
  Portland is in Oregon.
  

ESTAR also expresses the location of concepts we materialize such as love, or one’s thoughts.

• El amor está en todas partes.
  Love is everywhere.
  
• Mis pensamientos están con vos.
  My thoughts are with you.
  

When is SER used to talk about location?

SER is used less frequently to talk about location. SER expresses the location of activities, events, and actions. We use it to talk about the location of activities, events, and actions because these are immaterial entities and we can only describe their location as an essential characteristic of the activity.

• El partido es en el nuevo estadio.
  The game is in the new stadium.
  
• ¿Dónde fue el accidente?
  Where was the accident?
  
• La fiesta va a ser en mi casa.
  The party is going to be at my house.
  
• La clase es en Zoom.
  The class is (held) on Zoom.
  
• ¿En qué canal es el programa?
  What channel is the program on?
  

SER also expresses location when referring to the concept of destination.

• —¡Es aquí! —le dije al taxista.
  “It’s here!”, I said to the cab driver.
  
• No, aquí no es. Es más adelante.
  No, it’s not here. It’s further ahead.