How does one get the screen coordinates of the workspace?

[Rick Berger <rckbrgr gmail com>]

I'm looking for to get the screen coordinates, height and width of the 
workspace on Ubuntu's desktop. The only way I see to doing this, is in 
starting the app: maximize its window; get the workspace info from its 
window's coordinates and dimensions; then un-maximize its window. I 
believe these can be done with GDK.

Is there better way to do this?

Rick