How to make a QR code for a location on a map

For a QR code that opens a place on a map, choose Map location in QR by Zaweba and enter the position. The app stores it in the code as a geo: location, and phones that scan it offer to open that spot in their maps app, where the person can get directions. Save it as a PNG, SVG or PDF and print it on your invitation, sign or leaflet.

QR by Zaweba is free, runs on your PC and needs no account.

Finding the position

The code needs the position of the spot, not its address. The simplest way to find it is in a maps app or on a map website. Find the place, zoom right in, and press and hold (or right-click) on the exact point; most maps then show its coordinates, two numbers that pin the spot down. Copy them.

Zooming in properly is worth the effort. At street level a pin can easily land on the wrong side of a road, a hedge or a river, and a code that sends people to the wrong field is worse than no code.

Putting the position in

Open QR by Zaweba and pick Map location from the kinds of code. Enter the position. The preview draws the code and reads it back straight away, saying Checked: it reads back exactly when all is well, or explaining what is wrong if something such as the colours or the margin would stop it scanning.

Choose a size in millimetres. An invitation can carry a small code; a sign on a gate or a post needs a larger one, because people scan it from a step or two away. Keep the margin, the empty border round the code, clear.

Save the code. PNG at 300 dpi or more is fine for a printed invitation or a leaflet. SVG and PDF are vector files that print at exactly the size you set, which suits a sign maker. Copy picture pastes it straight into the document you are writing.

Checking it lands in the right place

Scan the code with your own phone. It should offer to open the location in a maps app. Open it and look at where the pin falls. If it is wrong, the usual cause is a mistyped digit or the two numbers swapped round. Fix it, and the preview updates at once.

Maps apps differ a little in how they open locations, so if the code is going out to a lot of people, ask someone with a different phone to try it too.

Good uses and good habits

Location codes are best where an address doesn't help: an event car park, the side entrance of a hall, a meeting point in a park, the start of a walk, a stall at a market, the gate of an allotment site. Put a few words next to the code saying what it is, such as "Scan for the car park", so people know what they will get.

For anything outdoors, think about wear and weather. A higher error correction level, Q or H, lets a code still scan with part of it scratched or dirty. Dark on light colours scan most reliably.

Other routes to the same place

If your place has a web page with a map and directions, a Web address code linking to that page can give people more information, such as opening times or parking notes. If you just want to show a reference or grid position for people to read, the Plain text kind shows exactly what you typed without opening anything. For pointing a phone at a particular spot, though, Map location is the direct route.