A geohash is a short base-32 string, such as u09tunquc, that names a rectangular cell on Earth. It is produced by interleaving the bits of latitude and longitude, so nearby places usually share a common prefix — which makes geohashes useful as sortable keys and for proximity searches.

How does geohash precision relate to cell size?

Each extra character makes the cell about 32 times smaller in area. One character covers roughly 5000 km, five characters about 5 km, and nine characters around 5 m, so more characters mean a smaller, more precise cell and a longer string.

Why do geohashes skip the letters a, i, l, and o?

The geohash base-32 alphabet is 0123456789bcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz. It leaves out a, i, l, and o so the codes are hard to confuse when read aloud or typed, keeping every geohash unambiguous.

How do I find the neighbors of a geohash?

Switch to Geohash → Lat/Lng and paste your geohash. The tool computes the eight adjacent cells — N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW — at the same precision, and you can click any one to decode it in turn.

Does this geohash converter handle points near the poles or the antimeridian?

Yes. Encoding works anywhere from −90 to 90 latitude and −180 to 180 longitude, and neighbor calculation wraps correctly across the antimeridian, so cells at the edges of the grid still resolve to the right adjacent geohashes.

Which datum does the geohash use?

Coordinates are treated as WGS84, the datum used by GPS and web maps like Google Maps and OpenStreetMap. If your source coordinates use a different local datum, convert them to WGS84 first to avoid an offset of tens of metres.

Geohash Converter

Encode latitude/longitude to a geohash and decode a geohash back to a point, bounding box, and neighbors — right in your browser.

The coordinates and geohashes you enter are encoded and decoded locally in your browser and are never uploaded; nothing you type is stored on a server.

Want to see the cell? Open the Coordinate Map Viewer.

About Geohash Converter

This geohash converter turns a latitude/longitude pair into a short base-32 geohash and decodes any geohash back into a point, all on your device. Enter coordinates and pick a precision from 1 to 12 characters to get a string like u09tunquc, or paste a geohash to read its center latitude and longitude, the ± error margins, the bounding box of the cell, and its eight surrounding neighbors (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW). Geohash encodes a location as a single sortable token, which makes it handy for database keys, proximity lookups, tile bucketing, and clustering points on a map. Because the alphabet drops a, i, l, and o, geohashes stay unambiguous. Everything runs client-side, so the coordinates and geohashes you work with never leave your browser.

Features

Encode a latitude/longitude to a geohash, and decode a geohash back to a point, in one tool
Choose a precision from 1 to 12 characters — longer strings name a smaller, more exact cell
Shows the center latitude and longitude plus the ± error margin on each axis
Reports the cell bounding box as SW and NE corners, with an approximate size in metres
Lists all eight neighbors (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) and lets you click one to decode it
Accepts geohashes in any case and ignores surrounding whitespace
Copy any value with one click and open the decoded point on the coordinate map
Uses the WGS84 datum, matching GPS receivers and web maps

How to use the Geohash Converter

Pick a direction: Lat/Lng → Geohash or Geohash → Lat/Lng.
Enter a latitude and longitude and set a precision, or paste a geohash.
Read the geohash, or the center point, error margins, bounding box, and neighbors.
Copy any value, or follow "View on the map" to plot the decoded point.

Example

Input

48.8584, 2.2945

Output

u09tunquc

The Eiffel Tower encoded at 9-character precision (a cell roughly 4.8 m across).

Common errors & troubleshooting

A geohash is rejected as invalid even though it looks right. — Geohash uses only 0123456789bcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz — the letters a, i, l, and o are not allowed. Drop any label such as "geohash:" and remove stray punctuation.
The decoded point lands close to, but not exactly on, the original coordinate. — A geohash names a cell, not an exact point, so decoding returns the cell center. Encode at a higher precision (more characters) to shrink the cell and tighten the error margin.
Two nearby points share a geohash prefix but the neighbors look wrong at a boundary. — Cells that are close on the map can differ early in the string near a boundary. Use the neighbor list rather than prefix matching to find truly adjacent cells.

Frequently asked questions

What is a geohash?: A geohash is a short base-32 string, such as u09tunquc, that names a rectangular cell on Earth. It is produced by interleaving the bits of latitude and longitude, so nearby places usually share a common prefix — which makes geohashes useful as sortable keys and for proximity searches.
How does geohash precision relate to cell size?: Each extra character makes the cell about 32 times smaller in area. One character covers roughly 5000 km, five characters about 5 km, and nine characters around 5 m, so more characters mean a smaller, more precise cell and a longer string.
Why do geohashes skip the letters a, i, l, and o?: The geohash base-32 alphabet is 0123456789bcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz. It leaves out a, i, l, and o so the codes are hard to confuse when read aloud or typed, keeping every geohash unambiguous.
How do I find the neighbors of a geohash?: Switch to Geohash → Lat/Lng and paste your geohash. The tool computes the eight adjacent cells — N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW — at the same precision, and you can click any one to decode it in turn.
Does this geohash converter handle points near the poles or the antimeridian?: Yes. Encoding works anywhere from −90 to 90 latitude and −180 to 180 longitude, and neighbor calculation wraps correctly across the antimeridian, so cells at the edges of the grid still resolve to the right adjacent geohashes.
Which datum does the geohash use?: Coordinates are treated as WGS84, the datum used by GPS and web maps like Google Maps and OpenStreetMap. If your source coordinates use a different local datum, convert them to WGS84 first to avoid an offset of tens of metres.

Related tools

Plus Codes Converter — Convert between latitude/longitude and a Plus Code (Open Location Code) both ways, with the covered bounding box and cell size.
MGRS Converter — Convert between latitude/longitude and MGRS (Military Grid Reference System) coordinates, both ways, in your browser.
Coordinate Converter (DMS & Decimal) — Convert coordinates between decimal degrees, DMS and degrees-decimal-minutes, both ways, in your browser.
Coordinate Map Viewer — Plot a latitude/longitude on an OpenStreetMap map, or click the map to read coordinates back out.
UTM Converter — Convert between latitude/longitude and UTM coordinates (zone, hemisphere, easting, northing) on the WGS84 ellipsoid.
GeoJSON Viewer & Validator — Paste or drop GeoJSON to validate it and see its features on a map, with feature counts and a bounding box.