Plus Codes are an easy way to represent a location anywhere on the planet. They are based on latitude and longitude and use a simple open source algorithm to generate the Plus Code. Plus Codes are much shorter and easier to use than traditional global coordinates. They help people without addresses to get addresses easily, and they also enable people to easily share their locations through simple codes that can be written down if needed.

There are many different addressing code schemes, and each has its own benefits and drawbacks. We created Plus Codes because we saw an opportunity to create addresses that would be easy to generate, easy to use, and easy to share, while also being open source and globally applicable. In short, we wanted to create a solution that was freely available to everyone, everywhere.

Plus Codes are:

• Free and open source: There are no licensing fees and the technology is open source and free to use.

• Accessible offline: You don’t need a network connection. Plus Codes can work well both online or offline.

• Easy to use: They’re much shorter than traditional global coordinates, so they’re easy to share.

• Short and simple: Plus Codes can easily be written down on signs, posters, and printed maps, making them useful for people with limited access to mobile devices or computers. This better enables the connection of the online and offline worlds.

• Independent of borders: Plus Codes work in places that haven’t been mapped. They don't need to use country codes, so they can also work well in disputed territories.

• Identifiable: The “+” symbol in Plus Codes helps people and computers identify the codes, ensuring they’ll be recognized by applications such as Google Maps and Google Search.

Street addresses work well where they exist. Where there are no street addresses, no streets at all, or only vague addressing, Plus Codes are a cheap and easy way to share locations or create addresses.

Plus Codes can also be valuable in places with street addresses. For example, they can be used to distinguish different entrances to the same building, or to provide an exact location on a long rural road. Emergency services can use them to locate and navigate to the site of an accident.

There are probably many other important ways that Plus Codes can be used.

Street addressing projects, including mapping a city and defining land parcels, are time-consuming and expensive. Plus Codes eliminate most of this effort and cost through a simple open source digital algorithm that can be used anywhere in the world.

Plus Codes are free for anyone to use, forever.

Plus Codes technology is free to use and has been open sourced under the Apache 2.0 license.

Like traditional postcodes that conventional addresses usually have, Plus Codes are short enough that they are easy to remember, easy to write, and easily recognizable.

When local government agencies or communities run addressing projects, they may attach an “address board,” or a sign with the Plus Code, to each property. This way there is no confusion as to the Plus Code address that is in use at the location. The physical board also creates a strong connection between the online and physical world. The blue-board format is increasingly being used and recognized as a Plus Code address.

Visit the Plus Codes technology page for information about how we create Plus Codes.

GPS coordinates are long and complicated to remember or share. A precise latitude and longitude can be several decimal points long. In addition, people regularly confuse latitude and longitude. Plus Codes are a simpler code system, creating codes that are much shorter and easier to use than traditional global coordinates.

Plus Codes include a “+” so that they are easy to recognize, both for people and computers. The “+” sign is added after eight characters of the Plus Code for full codes; it’s added after the first four characters for short Plus Codes. This also makes it possible to quickly see if any characters are missing from the start of a Plus Code and makes the code easy to interpret.

Plus Codes represent an area. The number of characters after the “+” sign define the size of the area. Two characters after the “+” sign define an area of less than 14x14 square meters (for example, 8QQ7+V8, Dublin), while three characters after the “+” sign define an area of less than 3x3 square meters (for example, 8QQ7+V8M, Dublin).

Yes, Plus Codes work on Google Maps. If you have a Plus Code, you can type it into Google Maps today and it will show you how to get to that location.

No. You can use Plus Codes in Google Maps and Google Search app on your mobile device or computer right away, with no additional downloads necessary.

As a simple algorithm, Plus Codes can easily be encoded and decoded offline. That’s why Plus Codes work well in apps that also work offline, such as Google Maps.

On your phone or tablet in Google Maps app, if you search for a Plus Code while offline it will drop a pin on the map at that location. If you have the region downloaded in your Google Maps app as Offline Maps, then you will be able to see the map details of the area downloaded and will also be able to navigate to the location.

Plus Codes are based on a set of 20 alphanumeric characters. The valid Plus Code characters are: {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, C, F, G, H, J, M, P, Q, R, V, W, X} and purposely exclude easy to confuse characters such as ‘1’ or ‘l’.

The characters in a Plus Code will increase or decrease depending on which direction you’re moving. However, since Plus Codes use a grid-based system built on latitude and longitude, the characters will increase or decrease in parallel to latitude and longitude lines—and not necessarily along street lines, which can be erratic. This means that locations next to each other will have similar addresses, enabling them to be easily found, but they won't necessarily increase linearly along a road.

Plus Codes are open source and free for other platforms to use. They are not proprietary to Google. We expect to see more platforms and applications use Plus Codes in the future, since the more they are used, the better it is for everyone.

Plus Codes are based on a set of 20 alphanumeric characters and are language-independent. The valid Plus Code characters are: {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, C, F, G, H, J, M, P, Q, R, V, W, X}.

Plus Codes are not based on words, are not case-sensitive, and they exclude easily confused characters.

Plus Codes already exist for every place on the planet. You simply have to look up the correct Plus Code for a location, and then you can share it with others. In some locations, formal addressing projects are taking place using Plus Codes, where the Plus Code address is recognized as your formal address by government authorities or local post offices.

Plus Codes can also be valuable in places that have conventional addresses - for example, to identify different entrances to the same building, or an exact location on a long rural road. Plus Codes can also be used to share a temporary location, such as the site of a car accident so that emergency services teams can find the location quickly and help people.

Just as street addresses tell you where a building is located, Plus Codes also tell you where a building is located. Information such as floor numbers, apartment numbers, and door codes can be provided on other lines of the Plus Code address, just as with conventional addresses.

If you continue to stay at the same location, your Plus Code will always remain the same and should never change as each Plus Code represents a specific persistent location

No. Plus Codes are short references for a specific persistent location. Just as you don’t take your address with you when you move, you cannot have the same Plus Code when you move. However, you can easily generate another Plus Code for your new location.

A Plus Code is unique to a location. If there are multiple residences or residents at the same location, they can have the same Plus Code address, but multiple residences will also each have additional information such as a household number. This would be the same as a conventional address for an apartment building, where you’d use the street name as well as an apartment or floor number.

Plus Codes is an open source solution that Google has made freely available under the Apache 2.0 license, which means the technology is free and open to use by anyone, forever.

See the Plus Codes technology page to find links to helpful resources.

Visit the Plus Codes technology page for a more detailed explanation about using Plus Codes within apps.

Plus Codes are easy to generate with the Google Maps app on your phone.

• To find the Plus Code of your current location on your Android device, turn on location services, then press and hold the screen at the blue dot indicating your location. A blue screen will then open showing the Plus Code for your current location.

• To find the Plus Code of a location on the map, press and hold the screen at the location in question to drop a pin. Click the section at the bottom of the screen to see the Plus Code.

Plus Codes can be written in both global and local form. A full Plus Code is a "Global Code" such as 7MJCH93V+7F having 8 characters before the “+” sign, while a short Plus Code is a "Local Code" such as H93V+7F with the first 4 characters dropped.

The code H93V+7F appears in many places across the globe, just as “100 Main Street” may appear in many places across the globe. If you look up H93V+7F on Google Maps, you’ll see the location corresponding to H93V+7F that is nearest to your location.

Alternatively, you can use the short-form Local Plus Code together with a locality to find a specific location. For example, if you type “H93V+7F, Kolkata” into Google Maps, you’ll see the nearest location of this code to “Kolkata.” This is similar to looking up “100 Main Street, Dublin, Ireland” or “100 Main Street, Boston, USA.” You can think of the first four characters of a Plus Code as similar to the area code of a phone number.

You can use the Google Maps app on your phone. With location services turned on, you'll see a blue dot at your current location. Check the map to verify that it's the right place. Then drop a pin by touching and holding the screen at the right place. Click the section at the bottom to see all details of the place and find the Plus Code. Alternately, you can find your Plus Code using this map.

After you’ve identified your Plus Code on Google Maps (if you haven’t, you may refer to “How do I get a Plus Code?”), copy the Plus Code from the app and paste it on your messaging app to share it with your friends and family.

If your service provider accepts Plus Codes, you can use your Plus Code to get mail deliveries, open a bank account, receive delivery services, and much more. Platforms and apps are increasingly accepting Plus Codes for their services.

If you have latitude and longitude coordinates, you can install the Plus Codes Google Sheets add-on which enables simple conversions between latitude and longitude and Plus Codes, and visa versa. Alternatively, please visit the Plus Codes technology page to find links to other useful resources.

Please visit the Plus Codes technology page for information on how to generate Plus Codes at scale.

See the Plus Codes page for organizations.