A QR code that opens a map right on the spot

What the phone does on scan

The code stores decimal latitude and longitude, something like 51.5007 and minus 0.1246 for the Houses of Parliament. On scan, the phone opens the default map app, Google Maps or Apple Maps on iPhone, straight to that point, with no address search involved along the way.

That is different from a link to a Google Maps page, which opens a web address, so that counts as a web link code, not a genuine location code. Decimal coordinates instead point to an exact spot on the ground, useful even where there is no proper postal address, like a trail or an open field.

Where this format helps most

An event out in the countryside with no clear postal address, a wedding in a field or a festival in a park. A precise meeting point on a large site, a factory entrance or a building site rather than the general address of the building. The start of a hiking trail, marked on a sign by the roadside.

Checking it, and printing advice

A mistyped coordinate points somewhere entirely different, sometimes miles off, and nothing about the scan itself will warn anyone that it went wrong. Before printing, paste the coordinates into a map app on your own phone and check the pin lands exactly where you meant, not just somewhere in the right town or the right postcode.

A location code still works without an internet connection at scan time, since the coordinates sit inside the code itself, it is the map app afterwards that needs a signal to draw the map and work out directions. Keep a white margin and strong contrast when printing, with a good two centimetres a side.

Questions about the free generator

Switch to a dynamic code if the meeting point might move between one edition of your event and the next. Make it editable