Machu Picchu

What the code says

The Grid Point Code for Machu Picchu is #C8HKC-12J1W. It names a cell 2.56 m north to south and 3.33 m east to west, centred on 13°09'48.02"S, 72°32'43.95"W, and it turns back into that cell on any phone or computer by arithmetic alone: no network, no account, no lookup table.

What it is

15th-century Inca citadel in the Peruvian Andes and UNESCO World Heritage Site

Code

#C8HKC-12J1W

With a check character

#C8HKC-12J1W*D

Short form

12J1W

Cell centre

-13.163340, -72.545541

Cell size

2.56 m by 3.33 m

Region

Cusco Department

Country

Peru

How to give this address

On a sign, a form or a delivery note

The whole code, #C8HKC-12J1W. It needs nothing else: no city, no street, no network to read it back.

Said aloud, in Cusco Department

Machu Picchu 12J1W: a name both people know, then the last five characters. They give back the exact code for anywhere within 4.0 km north or south and 5.2 km east or west of Machu Picchu. Further away the same five name somewhere else, which is why the whole code is what goes on a sign.

Copied by hand, or read over a phone

#C8HKC-12J1W*D. The character on the end catches any single mistyped symbol and any two neighbours swapped.

As a link or a square code

Open it on the map, move to the exact door, and add directions if the code needs help: "blue gate, second floor". The link and the square code carry them. Nothing is kept on this site.

From the city to the door

The first four characters name a cell about 40 km by 52 km here. Each one after that picks one of 25 inside the last, so the whole ten name a spot about the size of a doorway.

1. KC8HKMetropolitan area40 km by 52 km
2. CC8HKCDistrict8 km by 10.4 km
3. 1C8HKC1Suburb1.6 km by 2.08 km
4. 2C8HKC12A few streets320 m by 416 m
5. JC8HKC12JBuilding64 m by 83.2 m
6. 1C8HKC12J1Entrance12.8 m by 16.6 m
7. WC8HKC12J1WDoorway2.56 m by 3.33 m

More in Peru

• Mercado Central de Lima
• Lima
• Callao
• Arequipa
• Trujillo
• Piura
• Chiclayo
• Huancayo
• Cusco
• Iquitos
• Pucallpa
• Tacna