Plus 4 Zip Code
Tripp Powell
The Open Location Code (OLC) is a geocode based in a system of regular grids for identifying an area anywhere on the Earth.[1]It was developed at Google's Zrich engineering office,[2] and released late October 2014.[3] Location codes created by the OLC system are referred to as "plus codes".
Open Location Code is a way of encoding location into a form that is easier to use than showing coordinates in the usual form of latitude and longitude. Plus codes are designed to be used like street addresses, and may be especially useful in places where there is no formal system to identify buildings, such as street names, house numbers, and post codes.[4]
Plus codes are being used for addressing purposes in Cape Verde,[10] parts of Kolkata[11] Thane,[12] and Kolhapur[13] in India, and the Navajo Nation in the United States.[14] In Laxmi Nagar, Pune, the nonprofit Shelter Associates used codes to bring delivery services to specific homes and businesses in the slum for the first time in 2020-21.[12] Plus codes are also being used by the International Rescue Committee in Somalia for immunization and family planning programs.[12]
The Open Location Code system[15] is based on latitudes and longitudes in WGS84 coordinates. Each code describes an area bounded by two parallels and two meridians out of a fixed grid, identified by the southwest corner and its size. The largest grid has blocks of 20 by 20 degrees (9 rows and 18 columns), and is divided in 20 by 20 subblocks up to four times. From that level onwards, division is in 5 by 4 subblocks. The table shows the various block sizes at their maximum near the equator. The block width decreases with distance from the equator.
The code begins with up to five pairs of digits, each consisting of one digit representing latitude and one representing longitude. The biggest blocks have just two digits. After 8 digits, a plus sign "+" is inserted in the code as a delimiter to aid with visual parsing. After 10 digits at each subdivision, subblocks are coded in a single code digit as follows:
It is common to omit the first 4 characters from the code and add an approximate location, such as a city, state, or country. The above example then becomes "7VP3+PR6 Singapore". This is supported by the Google Maps app and the plus.codes website, and also by non-Google apps. These short forms of plus codes can be used in lieu of a house number in a neighborhood.
Shortened codes cannot be unambiguously encoded or decoded without context. The specification does not rely on any specific database of contextual reference location place names and their exact locations, but there are a variety of geocoding databases which map names to latitude and longitude. Disambiguation requires narrowing the possibilities to within about 40 km of the referenced location. The coordinates of the user's current location can be also used for context, if applicable.[16][17]
Plus Codes work similar to street addresses. They can help you get and use a simple digital address. They can also help you define a specific location for a conventional address. For example, you can identify different entrances to the same building.
You can use Plus Codes to identify a specific location to receive deliveries, access emergency and social services, or direct people to a location. Since the codes are simple, you can easily share them with others.
I would like to create Plus Codes for all our city buildings, and I'll be able to do it with a Google API, or with code from GitHub - google/open-location-code: Open Location Code is a library to generate short codes that can... but hey, anyone doing this within GIS? (partial credit for success via QGIS ;^)
I was able to use the OLC Python code directly in Pro to calculate the 10 digit plus code for some building points in Africa. It took a little over an hour to do 18 million points. After that is was easy to pull out the local 6 digit + code and to an overlay with regions to get an address combination. I notice that OSMAnd now supports plus codes.
We've worked with Plus Codes / Open Location codes for some of our clients, and along with a workmate, we've created an open source geoprocessing tool to work with Plus Code in ArcGIS Pro. The tool is open source, and an help and tutorial about Plus Code and ArcGIS can be found on the tool's repo: -plus-code-generator. I hope that helps.
Here's a sample code snippet of how we implement the above scenario, combining programmatic Place Autocomplete with a Geocoding API request to get the geographic coordinates of an autocomplete-generated Plus Code entered by the user. You can see the same in full context and find other implementation options on GitHub.
Geocoding now also accepts Plus Codes as the address request parameter and will return the same Plus Code as a fully populated Geocoding result. For example, a Geocoding request with address=GCG2%2B3M%20Kolkata will return a result with the Plus Code formatted as both a global code and as a compound code, along with place_id: "GhIJm8QgsHKGNkARke18P7UZVkA".
Learn more from our YouTube video and see the documentation on Place Autocomplete in the Places API, Places SDK for Android, Places SDK for iOS, and Places Library, Maps JavaScript API. Documentation for the Geocoding API provides details about how Plus Codes can be used in Geocoding requests and responses.
Google Plus Map Codes are location keys that represent street addresses as alphanumeric codes based on latitude and longitude. They are open-source, free, and easy to access and use. They can be used to receive deliveries, access emergency and social services, and otherwise help people map or find an address.
Plus Codes are a form of location key, which is essentially any alphanumeric code that represents a physical location. These are commonly used for street addresses, but can be used to identify and label any real-world location.
Plus Codes uses open-source technology, and is therefore free to create and use by anyone. Their simplified, shortened, and standardized format make them extremely easy to work with and share with others.
Plus Codes are alphanumeric codes that represent latitude and longitude coordinates. This code is based on a division of the globe using a square grid system based on latitude/longitude WGS84. The final portion of the Plus Code reflects a unique address within this grid, and the preceding portion of the code identifies the cell this location is in.
Google Maps Plus Codes work by converting location coordinates (latitude and longitude) to alphanumeric codes that use a standardized format. They use an alphanumeric grid (like a chess board with a grid of A - H and 1 - 8) to divide the world.
That first grid forms the first 2 numbers of the code. That square is then further subdivided, forming the next portion of the Plus Code. The result is an extremely easy-to-use code that represents a unique address in the world.
Whether you create the Plus Codes yourself or you are using Plus Codes that others have created, you can then use these Plus Codes to manage addresses. These codes are less prone to spelling and formatting errors, making them easier to work with.
Google Plus Codes can also easily be used with the Google Maps platform, enabling you to pair this data with the Places API and Geocoding API so that you can enter and retrieve this information as needed. There are also a number of add-ons available for Plus Codes that enhance what you can use them for, such as the Google Sheets Add-on or the Grid Service Add-on.
Open Location Code is an open-source technology that allows you to encode location information (latitude and longitude) in an easier to use format. These codes allow you to create a location code for addresses that are otherwise unable to be mapped, such as those without street addresses.
This algorithm is available to the public, making it extremely accessible and easy to adopt. Using these, you can convert locations into a code, and codes back into location information. One main advantage of using a software library is that this can be done offline, as the program is performing the task for you, without needing to connect to another solution or integration.
There are a number of open location codes available that can be used, which are open-source solutions that the community can create and modify for use. You can find software and integrations that use JavaScript, Python, Objective-C, and many more!
Google Sheets is a flexible solution that you can use to create your own dynamic sheets. With this, you can customize a sheet to generate Plus Codes for you from latitude and longitude using conditional formatting on the sheets.
Alternatively, you can use the Plus Codes Google Sheets Add-on, which allows you to convert location coordinates to plus codes, and vice versa. This is made possible by menu function and dynamic sheet functions, including:
To simplify the process of finding and sharing Plus Codes, you can use an API or a professional software. Unlike using Google Sheets or manually creating your own system, these are designed to perform these functions for you, making it easier to find, share, and manage Plus Codes.
For example, the Plus Codes Grid Service lets you integrate the Plus Codes grid to online maps and other GIS applications that you are using. You can do this using a variety of APIs, softwares, and other solutions, including:
Google Plus Codes and location keys are both standardized location identifiers that simplify address management. However, location keys like Placekey have greater capabilities, the most important of which is that they allow you to track points of interest at specific addresses. With this, you can not only identify where things are, but you can also map what things are at those locations.
Placekey uses this what at the where system to track points of interest (POIs) at different addresses, represented by easy-to-use alphanumeric codes. While Google Plus Codes use a grid to encode location and address data, Placekey has an added layer that encodes a POI.
ff7609af8f