What Is My Location

What Is My Plus Code?

A Plus Code is a short digital address made from coordinates — like 8FW4V75V+8Q — that works where street addresses are missing, imprecise or unnamed. Tap the button to get the Plus Code for where you're standing, or paste any full code to see its point on the map. Google Maps understands these codes directly, and everything here is computed in your browser.

Decode a Plus Code

Why Plus Codes exist

Billions of people live on streets with no usable postal address — new settlements, informal neighbourhoods, rural lanes with no numbering. A Plus Code gives any 3 m × 3 m square on Earth a short, shareable label derived purely from its coordinates: no database, no licence, no company that can turn it off. Google promotes them as address substitutes (typing one into Google Maps jumps straight to the square), postal services in several countries accept them, and because the scheme — Open Location Code — is open source, this page can encode and decode entirely offline in your browser.

Full codes vs short codes

A full code like 8FW4V75V+8Q works anywhere, standalone. In everyday use people shorten it to V75V+8Q, Paris — dropping the regional prefix and adding a town name instead. The short form needs that reference to be resolved, so this decoder asks for the full code; if you only have a short one, the fastest fix is typing it into Google Maps with its town, then copying the coordinates back here. Codes deliberately avoid look-alike characters (no 1/l, no 0/O) so they survive handwriting and phone calls.

Plus Code, what3words, or plain coordinates?

All three name a point. Coordinates are universal but long and easy to mistype. what3words is the most human-friendly to say aloud, but proprietary — resolving words needs their service. Plus Codes sit between: compact, checksum-friendly, understood by Google Maps, and fully open. For a form that demands a street address, pair your Plus Code with the nearest town name — or use what is my address to see what the map already knows about where you are.

Frequently asked questions

How precise is a Plus Code?
A standard 11-character code (like 8FW4V75V+8Q) names a square roughly 3 × 3 meters — about a doorway. The 10-character form is ~14 m, useful for a building. Add characters, gain precision; the format is designed so truncating stays honest about its accuracy.
Why won't my short code like V75V+8Q decode?
Short codes deliberately drop the regional prefix and rely on a nearby town name to restore it — without that reference they're ambiguous by design. Paste the full code here, or type the short code with its town into Google Maps and copy the coordinates back.
Do Plus Codes need internet or a Google account?
No. They're pure math on coordinates — this page encodes and decodes locally in your browser and keeps working offline. Google Maps understands the codes, but nothing about creating or reading them touches Google.
Can I use a Plus Code as my postal address?
In a growing number of places, practically yes: several postal operators and delivery apps accept them, and Google promotes them where street addressing is thin. For forms that insist on conventional fields, pair the code with your town name and use the address page to see what the map already lists for your location.
Related tools
What Is My Address? See the full postal address of where you are right now — street name, house number, city, postal code. Free, instant, private, no app needed. Convert Coordinates to an Address Convert GPS coordinates to a street address instantly. Paste latitude and longitude in any format — decimal or DMS — and get the full address. Free and private. what3words for My Location Find the what3words address for your current location — official w3w when available, with an open fallback — and how 3-word addresses actually work. GPS Coordinates Get your GPS coordinates now: latitude and longitude in decimal, DMS, UTM, MGRS, Plus Code and geohash. Copy, convert, and share in one tap.