A Plus Code, formally an Open Location Code, is a short code that represents any location on Earth without needing a street address. It is built by Google and shown in Google Maps as a code like 8FVC9G8F+6X.

How long should my code be?

A 10 character code (8 digits, a +, then 2 more) locates an area about 14 by 14 metres. Adding an eleventh character shrinks that to roughly 3.5 metres and a twelfth to under a metre.

What does the + separator mean?

The plus sign always follows the eighth character. It has no numeric meaning; it simply marks the boundary between the global block and the local part so codes are easy to read and to shorten.

Why are letters like A, E and I missing?

Open Location Code uses a 20 symbol alphabet (23456789CFGHJMPQRVWX) chosen to avoid vowels and characters that form words or look alike, which keeps codes unambiguous across languages.

Is this the same as a geohash?

Both encode coordinates into a short string, but Plus Codes use a base-20 pair grid with a fixed separator and a grid-refinement stage, whereas geohash interleaves bits in base-32. They are not interchangeable.

What is the Lat/Lng to Plus Code Converter?

Encode a latitude and longitude into a Plus Code (Open Location Code) of 10, 11 or 12 characters. Uses Google's base-20 pair grid and grid-refinement algorithm for an address-free global location code. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Lat/Lng to Plus Code Converter

Name: Lat/Lng to Plus Code Converter
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Plus Codes (Open Location Code)

A Plus Code turns a latitude and longitude into a compact, address-free code such as 8FVC9G8F+6X. It is designed so that people without a formal street address can still share a precise location, and it appears throughout Google Maps.

How it works

Encoding has two stages. First, latitude and longitude are offset to be positive (adding 90 and 180) and then encoded in alternating pairs using a base-20 alphabet. Each pair multiplies the resolution: 20 degrees, then 1 degree, then divisions of 20, 400 and 8000. That produces the first ten characters.

lat 47.365590, lng 8.524997  ->  8FVC9G8F+6X

For codes longer than ten characters, a grid-refinement stage divides the remaining cell into a 4 by 5 grid (4 columns of longitude, 5 rows of latitude) and appends one character per refinement. Finally a + separator is inserted after the eighth character.

What Plus Codes are used for

The original problem Plus Codes solve is rural and peri-urban addressing. About 4 billion people live in places without formal postal addresses — rural areas, urban informal settlements, new developments not yet on maps. A Plus Code gives any point on Earth a sharable, searchable reference that needs no government or postal authority to assign it.

Practical uses:

Emergency services — a caller who cannot give a street address can read out a Plus Code. The 10-character code locates them to a ~14 m cell.

Delivery coordination — courier services and last-mile logistics operators in regions with weak addressing use Plus Codes to specify drop-off points.

Google Maps — every location in Google Maps has a Plus Code shown in the information panel. Tapping it opens directions to that exact cell.

Humanitarian work — relief organisations use Plus Codes to register shelters, water points, and clinic locations in areas without formal addressing infrastructure.

Meeting point coordination — sharing a Plus Code is more precise than a street corner when you want to specify exactly which entrance or which side of a building to meet at.

Full codes vs. shortened codes

This tool generates full Plus Codes, which are globally unambiguous and self-contained. For example, 8FVC9G8F+6X pinpoints a location in Zurich without any additional context.

Shortened codes drop the leading characters (typically the first 4–6) and add a nearby town or city name: 9G8F+6X Zurich. Shortened codes are easier to read aloud but require a reference locality to decode. Because this tool produces full codes, the output always decodes correctly on its own.

Code length guide

Length	Approx. area	When to use
10 characters	~14 m × 14 m	Standard — matches a large room, car parking space, or building entrance
11 characters	~3.5 m × 3.5 m	Specific doorway, market stall, or narrow passageway
12 characters	under 1 m × 1 m	Precise sensor placement, survey marker, or utility connection point

Example and tips

A length-10 code is the everyday choice and is what Google Maps shows. Choose length 11 or 12 only when you need to point at a doorway or a small object. Note that this tool produces full codes; shortened codes that drop the leading characters depend on a nearby reference location and are outside its scope. Everything runs locally in your browser.