Grid Point Code

Play

Washington

District of ColumbiaUnited States

With a code
#G37N2-71LM4
Said aloud
Washington 71LM4

Get the code for your door

What the code says

The Grid Point Code for Washington is #G37N2-71LM4. It names a cell 2.56 m north to south and 2.66 m east to west, centred on 38°53'42.37"N, 77°02'10.95"W, and it turns back into that cell on any phone or computer by arithmetic alone: no network, no account, no lookup table.

The point used is the one GeoNames records for Washington, near its centre, and Washington is the capital of United States.

Code
#G37N2-71LM4
With a check character
#G37N2-71LM4*8
Short form
71LM4
Cell centre
38.895103, -77.036375
Cell size
2.56 m by 2.66 m
Region
District of Columbia
Country
United States
Population
689,545

How to give this address

On a sign, a form or a delivery note

The whole code, #G37N2-71LM4. It needs nothing else: no city, no street, no network to read it back.

Said aloud, in District of Columbia

Washington 71LM4: 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 4.2 km east or west of Washington. 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

#G37N2-71LM4*8. 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 41.6 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. G37NMetropolitan area40 km by 41.6 km
  2. G37N2District8 km by 8.32 km
  3. G37N27Suburb1.6 km by 1.66 km
  4. G37N271A few streets320 m by 333 m
  5. G37N271LBuilding64 m by 66.5 m
  6. G37N271LMEntrance12.8 m by 13.3 m
  7. G37N271LM4Doorway2.56 m by 2.66 m

More in United States

City, region and population from GeoNames, under CC BY 4.0.