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Location QR code generator

Drop a pin that opens in whichever maps app the phone already uses.

Point at

Optional. The name shown on the pin. Not every maps app displays it.

Your QR code appears here

Start typing and it updates as you go.

PNG is 2048px. SVG scales to any size, which is what print wants.

Design
Colours

Or start from a pair that scans well:

Module shape

The empty border around the code. 4 is the standard.

Recovers about 15% damage. The usual choice.

Centre logo

Optional. Keep it simple - a mark reads better than a wordmark at this size.

What is actually in a location QR code

There are two different things a location code can hold, and picking the right one matters more than anything else on this page. Coordinates produce a geo: link - the scheme, then latitude and longitude, plus the label in brackets if you give one. An address produces an ordinary web link to a Google Maps search for that address. Both open a map at the right place; they get there by different routes.

The geo: form names no provider. It hands the coordinates to whatever maps app the phone treats as its default, so an Android phone opens Google Maps, and a phone set up around another app opens that. The catch is that iPhones do not handle the geo: scheme natively - whether it works depends on the scanning app and on which maps apps are installed. If the audience is mostly iPhone users, or you cannot test in advance, the address form is the safer choice even though it names one provider.

The address form is the mirror image: it works everywhere, because it is just a link, but it commits you to Google Maps and it depends on their search finding the right place. It also cannot be more precise than the address itself. A festival gate in the middle of a field, a trailhead, a loading bay round the back - none of those have an address that resolves usefully, and that is exactly what coordinates are for.

Coordinates mode, then address mode

geo:51.5079,-0.0877?q=51.5079,-0.0877(Borough%20Market)
https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=14%20Northgate%2C%20Leeds

Good for

  • A festival or car park entrance sign
  • A wedding invitation
  • A trailhead or footpath marker
  • A delivery gate notice
  • An open house flyer
  • A site plan for contractors

Worth knowing before you print it

  • Latitude first, and keep the minus signs

    Swapping the two numbers moves the pin thousands of kilometres, usually into an ocean, and it looks like a broken code rather than a transposition. A dropped minus does the same thing between hemispheres. Scan the finished code and check the pin lands where you meant before printing anything.

  • Use decimal degrees, and about five of them

    The format wants 51.5079, not 51 degrees 30 minutes 28 seconds. Four decimal places puts the pin within about ten metres and five within about a metre, which is finer than a phone can navigate you anyway. Long-press the spot in your maps app and it will give you the decimal pair to copy.

  • An address is only as good as the search result

    The address form hands your text to a maps search, and searches guess. New builds, rural properties, unit numbers on an industrial estate and any street name that exists in three nearby towns are the usual failures. Scan it and look at the pin. If the guess is wrong, switch to coordinates.

  • A pin is not an arrival

    The map opens at the place; the person still has to tap directions, and the map has no idea which gate, which car park or which door you meant. Add the last hundred metres in words next to the code - "park in the top field, entrance by the red barn" - because that is the part a pin cannot carry.

Common questions

With coordinates, whichever app the phone uses by default, because the geo: scheme names no provider. With an address, the link goes to Google Maps, which on a phone with the app installed opens in the app rather than the browser. That is the main trade between the two modes.

Less predictably than on Android. iOS has no built-in handler for the geo: scheme, so what happens depends on the scanning app and on which maps apps are installed. If you cannot test on the phones your audience uses, use the address mode - it is an ordinary link and opens everywhere.

In Google Maps, long-press the exact spot and the decimal pair appears at the top of the card that slides up. In Apple Maps, drop a pin and scroll the place card down to the coordinates. Copy both numbers with their decimal places and their minus signs, latitude first.

The scan itself does not - the coordinates or the address are inside the code, so the handoff to the maps app works offline. Drawing the map is another matter: without a signal the app will show whatever it has cached. On a rural site, tell people to load the map before they leave.

Not in the location fields, but they are ordinary web links, so paste the link into the URL type instead and it works exactly as expected. That is often the better answer for a site with no postal address and no easy way to read coordinates aloud.

With coordinates, yes - the label is carried in the link and most maps apps show it against the pin. With an address, the map shows whatever it matched, so the name of the place is worth putting in the address text itself if it has one.

Other kinds of QR code

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Printing it? How to print a QR code covers size, contrast and the quiet zone.