Google has today announced the launch of a new India-first feature on Google Maps. Now you can use your current location to find the Plus Codes address for your home. When saving a ‘Home’ location on Google Maps, users in India 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. The feature is currently available on Android only, with iOS following soon.
“We have also added a section at the top of the ‘Saved’ tab to make it easier to retrieve, copy, and share these home addresses,” wrote Product Manager, Google Maps, Amanda Bishop.
Plus Codes are free, open-sourced, 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 right up to the doorstep.
Since its launch in 2018, Plus Codes being adopted at scale by NGOs in India and beyond (including Addressing the Unaddressed, Shelter Associates, and Rural Utah Project). Plus Codes also ease the discovery of and navigation to businesses.
Whether getting food or parcels delivered, sending a location to friends or family to help them get to your home, or navigating, people can use Plus Codes addresses seamlessly, without going through the hassle of sharing approximate addresses with landmarks, or voice instructions that may be ambiguous.
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