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.

Lat/Lng to Plus Code Converter

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.

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.