Google launches Plus Codes in MENA

Plus Codes are free, opensourced, digital addresses that provide simple and accurate addresses for any place on Earth, including for places that don’t have accurate formal addresses. Instead of street and locality names, Plus Codes are based on latitude and longitude and are displayed as a short sequence of numbers and letters that provide accuracy.

Since its launch in 2018, Plus Codes has been adopted at scale by NGOs (including Addressing the Unaddressed and Shelter Associates) and governments (such as in SubSaharan Africa) as the technology serves the addressing needs of millions of people. Plus Codes also ease the discovery of and navigation of businesses.

Google has announced the launch of the latest Plus Codes feature on Google Maps in 18 countries across MENA, including the

UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. You can now use the app to find the Plus Code address for your home.

Whether getting food or parcels delivered, sending a location to friends or family to help them get to one’s home or navigating, people can use Plus Codes addresses without going through the hassle of sharing approximate addresses with landmarks, or voice instructions that may be ambiguous.

When saving a ‘Home’ location on Google Maps, users in the 18 countries will see a new ‘Use your current location’ that uses their phone’s location to generate a Plus Code (if the location precision meets minimum thresholds), which they can then use as their Home address. Google has also added a section at the top of the ‘Saved’ tab to make it easier to retrieve, copy and share these home addresses. The feature is currently available on Android only, with iOS following soon.