If you have ever had trouble describing your location to someone, which can be difficult if you don’t have a formal address, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/google/" target="_blank">Google</a>’s newest feature will be a useful tool. Although originally launched in 2018, <a href="https://plus.codes/map" target="_blank">Plus Codes</a> has now come to 18 countries across the Mena region including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and more. The tool simply lets people share where they are — even if there isn’t an address. Google uses latitude and longitude co-ordinates to display a short sequence of numbers and letters that provide an accurate location when clicked on. The Plus Codes are also accessible offline and can be used to share any type of location such as a home, a store or a meeting place. “Plus Codes are an easy way to represent a location anywhere on the planet,” says Google. “Plus Codes are much shorter and easier to use than traditional global coordinates. “They help people without addresses to get addresses easily, and they also enable people to easily share their locations through simple codes that can be written down if needed.” The feature was launched in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/india/" target="_blank">India</a> earlier this year, with Google claiming that more than 500,000 people used it for their home addresses. Currently, the feature is only available on Android, with iOS to follow soon. When saving an address on Google Maps, users will see a new “use your current location” option that uses their phone’s location to generate a Plus Code (if the location precision meets minimum thresholds) which they can then share. There’s also a section at the top of the Saved tab to make it easier to retrieve, copy and share these home addresses. But those on iOS who may not have the tool yet can visit plus.codes/map to generate one.
