The geo: payload
The code contains a standard geo URI: the scheme, then decimal latitude and longitude. An optional q parameter repeats the coordinates with a percent-encoded human label, which many map apps display as the pin's name.
A meeting point in central London encodes as:
The payload is a coordinate string and nothing more — no QR Decode redirect, no map vendor baked in, no analytics. The scanning device decides which app answers.
geo:51.5074,-0.1278?q=51.5074%2C-0.1278%20(Meeting%20point)Coordinate rules that actually matter
Latitude comes first and runs from −90 to 90; longitude second, −180 to 180. Use a dot as the decimal separator — comma-decimal locales produce broken geo URIs. South and west are negative, and a dropped minus sign moves your pin to another continent.
Five decimal places locate a point to roughly a metre, which is more precision than any consumer GPS delivers; extra digits add payload without adding accuracy. Verify the pin visually on a map before anything gets printed.
Getting coordinates you can trust
In most map apps, a long press drops a pin and reveals its coordinates in decimal degrees — copy them from there rather than reading them off a screenshot. Make sure you copy decimal degrees, not the degrees-minutes-seconds form, which this payload does not use.
For entrances, gates and docks, stand at the spot with your phone and use your own position. The building's official address pin is often the roof centroid or the reception on the other side — precisely the confusion a coordinate code exists to remove.
Android, iPhone, and who opens the map
Android generally offers a mapping app directly. iOS and third-party scanners are less uniform: some open a compatible app, some display the coordinates and label as text. That is normal for geo URIs — the format is a request, and the device chooses the handler.
Even the plain-text fallback is useful: the coordinates can be pasted into any map or navigation app. Nothing about the code becomes wrong when the presentation varies; test on your audience's typical devices so the variation doesn't surprise you.
Where coordinate codes beat addresses
Use them where the address fails: trailheads and picnic spots with no address at all, the correct entrance of a large site, loading docks and parking garage doors, stalls inside a market, gate B of a festival ground. The pin is the instruction.
They also travel well. An address format is local — street name conventions, transliteration, house-number order — while a decimal coordinate means the same thing to every map app in every language. For international visitors, the geo code is the version that cannot be misparsed.
On signage, pair the code with the human-readable version anyway ('P2 entrance — scan for exact point'): people without a free hand for scanning still deserve to find the door.
geo: URI or a Google Maps link?
A geo URI is vendor-neutral: the phone picks whatever map app its owner uses, and the payload stays tiny. A Google Maps web link does the opposite — it guarantees Google Maps specifically, can carry a place listing rather than bare coordinates, and behaves like any web address.
Both are legitimate. If your audience expects the Google Maps experience, or you are pointing at a business listing with reviews and hours, encode the Maps URL with the URL generator. If you are pointing at a physical spot and want it to work for everyone, this page's geo code is the cleaner tool.
Frequently asked questions
Can a QR code store a location without Google Maps?
Yes. A geo URI stores raw coordinates and lets the device choose any installed map app — no Google account, listing, or service is involved.
Does the code track scans or movement?
No. It is a static coordinate string with no redirect or analytics. Nobody learns that a scan happened, including us.
Can I name the place?
Yes. The optional label rides along in the q parameter and appears as the pin title in many map apps, while the coordinates remain the actual destination.
What if the scanner only shows numbers?
Some apps display the geo URI as text instead of opening a map. The coordinates are still usable — pasted into any map app they resolve to the same spot — but test the phones your audience carries.
A coordinate pin needs a visible place name too
A geographic QR payload can carry latitude and longitude, such as a meeting point at 52.3728,4.8936. Decimal coordinates need a decimal point, and a transposed digit can move a pin by streets or kilometres while still looking syntactically valid. Before printing, paste the exact generated location into the mapping application used by visitors, confirm the pin, entrance and walking route, and write the venue name and street address beside the code. RFC 5870 defines the `geo:` URI scheme and its coordinate form: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5870 . A coordinate tells a map where to centre; it does not describe which door, floor or accessibility entrance a person should use.
Use a location code for arrival, not for navigation policy
For an outdoor event, test the QR from the distance and substrate of the sign, then open it on both a phone map and the alternative map application used by staff. Compare the pin with a physical landmark and record the latitude, longitude, address and artwork revision. Add a plain fallback such as `North gate, 12 Example Street` because some visitors cannot scan, have no mapping app or need spoken directions. Do not encode private home coordinates or a temporary restricted-area point in a public poster. A static geo code cannot react to roadworks, parking changes or a moved entrance; use a stable web route if live instructions matter. If the result is wrong, correct the source coordinates and proof them again rather than trying to compensate with a different zoom level or a decorative map image.
State the arrival landmark in ordinary text
Coordinates are precise but not always humane. Add a gate name, street address and the last turn a visitor should take, especially where a map pin can land on a large site boundary. Test the route while approaching as a first-time visitor. If the physical entrance moves, issue a new code or use a maintained directions page; decimal coordinates printed on old signs cannot be remotely corrected.
Check latitude and longitude order
A coordinate pair has an order: latitude first, longitude second. Swapping 52.3728 and 4.8936 may create a syntactically valid pair far from Amsterdam. Review the numeric source in a map before artwork approval and retain a screenshot of the selected pin; an address alone cannot prove that the encoded pair was entered in the intended order.