Have you been looking at your local listings recently and have wondered, what are those blue dots next to my listing details?

Plus Codes are free, open-sourced, digital addresses that provide simple and accurate addresses for any place on Earth, including places that don’t have accurate formal addresses. No more complicated coordinates or addresses, just copy and paste the code into Google Maps or your Google search bar and you will find your destination in no time. Since its launch in 2018 exclusively for India, we have now seen almost all listings have their Plus Code included in the Knowledge Panel.

How it works is that Google has divided the geographical surface of the Earth into tiny tiled areas. Each of these areas are given a unique code. This code simply comprises a ‘6-character + City’ format that can be generated. You then can copy that code to be shared and searched by anyone. All that is required to view a locations Google Plus code is to search via Google Maps. Although this was exclusively a mobile feature, you can now view Google Plus Codes on your browser.