Plus Code encoder
The Plus Code (Open Location Code) for a latitude and longitude at code length 2 to 15, with the area it covers.
The Plus Code is 8FVC9G8F+6X.
- Area height
- Area width
- South
- West
- North
- East
Provenance
- Computed by
- indexing.plus-code.encode 1.0.0, core 0.1.0
- Model
- Open Location Code: base-20 pairs to 10 digits, then a 4 × 5 grid per digit
- Accuracy
- Exact, matching the reference implementations' integer method
- Notes
- None
- Cites
- Google, open-location-code project, Open Location Code: Specification
Something look off?
How we got thisFormula, worked example, sources, and proof
Model: Open Location Code: base-20 pairs to 10 digits, then a 4 × 5 grid per digit
Accuracy: Exact, matching the reference implementations' integer method
When to use this: Use this to give a location where there is no street address: an Open Location Code that can be read aloud, written down, or put in a message, at the length you choose, with the area it covers so the precision is clear. It is also a compact way to store or print a position at a stated precision, since the code's length is its precision and nothing else has to be carried with it.
Limitations: Longer codes mean smaller cells: ten characters is about fourteen meters, eleven about three. The code is an area rather than a point, and it is defined on WGS 84. Codes near a pole or the antimeridian still work but their cells' ground shape changes, as with any grid defined on degrees. Codes are case-insensitive but their alphabet is deliberately restricted, so a code copied with a letter that is not in it is invalid rather than nearly right.
Worked example: A point in Zurich. Source: Open Location Code documentation example: 8FVC9G8F+6X.
You enter
- Latitude
- 47.36559 deg
- Longitude
- 8.524997 deg
You get
- Plus Code
- 8FVC9G8F+6X
- Area height
- 13.9 m
- Area width
- 9.41 m
- South
- 47.3655°
- West
- 8.524875°
- North
- 47.365625°
- East
- 8.525°
Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a GIS professional.
Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.
Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.
Changes
- 2026-09-19, changed: Every indexing tool is now stable. Geohash decode and neighbors match pygeohash on 1,000 and 500 cases; the Plus Code tools pass every row of the Open Location Code test data; tile ground resolution matches the Bing Maps table; the H3 resolution chooser matches H3's resolution table; and H3 polygon fill gives H3 C's own test counts (1,253 cells, 1,214 with a hole). Results are unchanged apart from the fix below. Changelog
Checked against: 35 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.
Sources
- Open Location Code: Specification, Google, open-location-code project, Specification in the project repository. Encoding, decoding, shortening, and short-code recovery. Read free.