For iPhone · Driving in JapanMost car navigation systems in Japan take a MAPCODE, a short number for any spot on the map. Share a place from Google Maps, choose PinPunch, and the code appears right in the share sheet, big and easy to read.
Typing a Japanese address into a rental car's navigation is slow and fiddly. A MAPCODE is just a number.
A shop, a station, a street address, or press and hold anywhere to drop a pin. However you'd normally find it.
Tap Share, then PinPunch. The code appears in the share sheet without even opening the app. Add it to your share-sheet favourites to make it quicker.
Enter the number in your navigation's MAPCODE search and drive. The address underneath lets you check it's the right place first.
The code is shown large, ready to copy or read off while you type it into the car. The digits after the * pinpoint the spot to within a few metres, if your navi accepts them.
Look up the whole itinerary before you pick up the car. The clock button keeps your last 20 codes, including ones you looked up from the share sheet.
Businesses, stations, street addresses and dropped pins, from the Google Maps app or a short link, in English or Japanese.
Got a Google Maps link in a message or an email? Paste it into the app and get the code the same way.
Routes and multiple pins are turned down rather than guessed at. Approximations always say so, with the reason.
No analytics, no account and no location permission. Your recent codes are stored on your iPhone only.
To work out a code it asks a few map services: Google expands shared short links (and receives the place ID when a link has no pin), Mapion receives the place's coordinates to return the MAPCODE, and Apple receives them to show the address.
In Google Maps, open a place or address, or press and hold to drop a pin. Tap Share, then More, then PinPunch. The code appears in the share sheet. To make it quicker next time, add PinPunch to your share-sheet favourites. You can also paste a Google Maps link into the app.
Some Google Maps links don't contain the exact pin. When that happens, PinPunch uses the best location it can find and labels the code Closest match, with the reason. Check the address shown before relying on it.
The digits after * pinpoint the spot to within a few metres. Enter them if your car's navigation accepts them; the first part on its own gets you to within about 30 metres.
Not yet. Copy the code, or read it off the screen, and enter it in your navigation's MAPCODE search.
PinPunch is coming to iPhone.
MAPCODE is a registered trademark of DENSO Corporation. PinPunch isn't affiliated with or endorsed by DENSO, Google, Mapion or Apple. Codes come from Mapion's public map pages, so always check the address before you set off.