Geohash map & converter
Encode coordinates to a geohash, decode a geohash to latitude and longitude, and see the squares on a globe. 1 to 12 characters, with cell sizes and the 8 neighbors. Free, no signup.
dr5ru7v2s- Center
- 40.758011, -73.985517
- Error
- ± 0.000021° lat, ± 0.000021° lon
- Cell size
- 3.6 × 4.8 m
- Bounds (S, W, N, E)
- 40.757990, -73.985538, 40.758033, -73.985496
PROXY_USER__geohash.dr5ruEvery IP from inside this square (the gateway reads the first 5 characters). How geohash targeting works Geohash precision by length
Each character divides the square into 32. Sizes are width × height at the equator; squares get narrower toward the poles.
| Length | Cell size | About the size of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,009 × 5,009 km | a continent |
| 2 | 1,252 × 626 km | a large country |
| 3 | 157 × 157 km | a metro area |
| 4 | 39 × 20 km | a city |
| 5 | 4.9 × 4.9 km | a neighborhood |
| 6 | 1.2 × 0.6 km | a few city blocks |
| 7 | 153 × 153 m | a block |
| 8 | 38 × 19 m | a building |
| 9 | 4.8 × 4.8 m | a parking space |
| 10 | 1.2 × 0.6 m | a desk |
| 11 | 15 × 15 cm | a hand |
| 12 | 3.7 × 1.9 cm | a coin |
How a geohash works
Bits, then base 32
Encoding halves the world again and again: is the point east or west of the middle longitude, then north or south of the middle latitude, and so on, one bit each. Longitude takes the first bit. Every 5 bits become one character of 0123456789bcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz.
40.7580, -73.9855 → dr5ru7v2s dr5ru7v2s → 40.75801, -73.98552 ± 0.00002
A prefix is a bigger square
dr5ru is inside dr5r, which is inside dr5. Cutting characters off the end zooms out, which is why databases can find everything in an area with one prefix match.
Where it is used
- Redis
GEOHASHreturns 11-character codes for stored points. - Elasticsearch groups points into squares with the
geohash_gridaggregation, precision 1 to 12. - PostGIS has
ST_GeoHashand BigQuery hasST_GEOHASH. - Mobile apps use short codes to group users by area without storing exact positions.
Proxy IPs from one square
Add geohash.dr5ru to a Proxmint proxy username and every IP comes from inside that square, for checking local search results, store availability or ads one neighborhood at a time. Up to 5 characters; a country after it, as dr5ru-us, keeps a square that crosses a border on one side.
Geohash questions
What is a geohash?
A geohash is a short code for a rectangle on the map, such as dr5ru for Midtown Manhattan. Each character splits its parent square into 32 smaller ones, so a longer code is a smaller square, and every square sits inside the square named by its first characters. Gustavo Niemeyer published the scheme in 2008.
How do I decode a geohash to latitude and longitude?
Paste it into the converter above. You get the center of its square, the error either side (the square's half-height and half-width), the four edges and the cell size. A geohash names an area, not a point, so the center is the best single answer and the error says how far off it can be.
How precise is a 9-character geohash?
About 4.8 × 4.8 m at the equator, so its center is within 2.4 m north-south and east-west of any point inside. Each extra character divides the square by 32: 6 characters is about 1.2 × 0.6 km, 12 about 3.7 × 1.9 cm. Squares get narrower toward the poles because lines of longitude converge.
Why do two places next to each other have different geohashes?
A shared prefix means both places are in the same square, but two places a meter apart can sit on either side of a square's edge and share no prefix at all. Near-by searches therefore check the square and its 8 neighbors, which the converter lists for any code.
Which letters are not used in a geohash?
Geohash uses 32 characters: 0123456789bcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz. It leaves out a, i, l and o, so a code can't be misread as a word or confused with 1 and 0.
Can I pick proxy IPs by geohash?
Yes. Proxmint proxies take a geohash in the proxy username, as geohash.dr5ru, and every IP then comes from inside that square. The gateway reads up to 5 characters, about 4.9 x 4.9 km. Pick a square on the map above and Use in my dashboard carries it into your proxy generator.
Exit from any square on the map
Residential IPs by country, city or geohash, billed per GB. Bandwidth never expires.