What input does this tool accept?

It accepts a full Open Location Code, where the part before the + separator is the global block. Shortened codes that omit the leading characters require a reference location and are not supported here.

Why does it return a center and a bounding box?

A Plus Code names a rectangular cell, not a single point. The center is the best single coordinate, and the bounds tell you how large that cell is, which depends on the code length.

How precise is the decoded point?

A 10 character code resolves to about a 14 metre cell, an 11 character code to roughly 3.5 metres, and a 12 character code to under a metre. The true point lies somewhere within the reported bounds.

What if the + is in the wrong place?

The separator must always follow exactly eight characters and sit at an even position. If it is missing or misplaced the code is invalid, and the tool reports the error rather than guessing.

Which characters are valid in a Plus Code?

Only the 20 symbol alphabet 23456789CFGHJMPQRVWX is allowed, plus the single + separator and trailing 0 padding. Vowels and ambiguous characters are intentionally excluded.

What is the Plus Code to Lat/Lng Converter?

Decode a full Plus Code (Open Location Code) such as 8FVC9G8F+6X into its center latitude and longitude plus the cell bounds. Implements Google's base-20 pair and grid-refinement decoding. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Plus Code to Lat/Lng Converter

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

Decoding a Plus Code

This tool reverses Plus Code encoding: given a full Open Location Code it recovers the rectangle of latitude and longitude it represents and reports the center. That is what you need when an app, a sign, a delivery label or Google Maps gives you a code and you want raw coordinates to use in another tool or system.

How it works

The code is uppercased and its + separator and trailing padding are removed. The remaining characters are read in pairs against the base-20 alphabet (23456789CFGHJMPQRVWX). Each pair reduces resolution from the global scale down to a cell smaller than a building footprint:

Character pair 1  →  20° × 20° block
Character pair 2  →  1° × 1° cell
Character pair 3  →  0.05° × 0.025° cell
Character pair 4  →  0.0025° × 0.00125° cell
Character pair 5  →  0.000125° × 0.0000625° cell  (≈14 m)
Grid digits (11+) →  subdivide into 4 columns × 5 rows each step

Summing all offsets gives the cell’s lower-left corner. Adding the final cell size gives the upper-right corner, and the midpoint is the reported center.

For example: 8FVC9G8F+6X decodes to a center near 47.3656° N, 8.5249° E — a location in central Zürich — with a cell roughly 14 metres across.

Code length and precision

Code length	Approximate cell size	Typical use
8 characters (before +)	275 m × 550 m	Neighbourhood block
10 characters	~14 m × 14 m	Building footprint
11 characters	~3.5 m × 3.5 m	Room-scale
12 characters	~less than 1 m	Very precise

A 10-character code (8 chars + + + 2 chars) is the standard length used in most apps and signage. The extra digits in 11- and 12-character codes are the grid-refinement characters.

Common reasons a code fails to decode

The + does not follow exactly eight characters — the most common typo.
A zero, letter O, vowel (A, E, I, U), or other excluded character was used. The alphabet is deliberately chosen to avoid these ambiguous symbols.
The code is a shortened (relative) Plus Code that omits the leading characters and requires a reference locality to complete. This tool handles full codes only; shortened codes need the locality appended before decoding.
Trailing zeros used as padding were dropped — the code must have its full length before the +.

Use the companion Lat/Lng to Plus Code tool to round-trip a coordinate and confirm the code you were given maps back to the expected location.

Where Plus Codes appear in practice

Plus Codes were designed for places without a formal street address — rural areas, informal settlements, and large open spaces. They are used by:

Google Maps: every location in Maps has a Plus Code shown in the info panel.
Humanitarian aid organizations: addresses in disaster zones or refugee camps are often shared as Plus Codes when street infrastructure does not exist.
Delivery and logistics: some delivery platforms in low-address-density markets accept Plus Codes as delivery destinations.
Land registration: in some countries, Plus Codes serve as informal parcel identifiers pending formal cadastral mapping.

The decoded latitude and longitude can be pasted directly into mapping APIs, navigation apps, or GIS tools that accept decimal degree coordinates.