Blur a latitude and longitude before you post a spot, share a map pin, or publish location data. Pick a method, set the precision, and copy the result.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you enter is never sent anywhere.Your input is never sent anywhere.
DetailsBlur method
Decimal places to keep
Latitude and longitude
Latitude
Longitude
Use decimal degrees. South latitudes and west longitudes are negative. You can paste “lat, long” into the first box.
Rule of thumb for hiding a home location: round to 2–3 decimal places, or snap to a grid of 0.5–1 mile. Go coarser in rural areas, where fewer homes share the same cell. If you post from the same place often, use a random offset.
This tool can’t guarantee anonymity. Check the blurred coordinates on a map before you publish them.
How GPS Coordinates Give Away Your Home Address
Phones often report location with six or more decimal places. At six places, one step in latitude is about 4 inches (11 cm) on the ground. Post that number in a caption, a map pin, or an open data file, and anyone can find the exact house, workplace, or parking spot.
This page gives you three ways to blur a coordinate pair: round decimals, grid snap, and random offset. Use it before you share a photo spot, a run start point, or a data set that has a location column.
Work on one point, or switch to Batch list to process many lines at once and download a CSV. The math runs in your browser, and the coordinates you enter are not sent to our servers.
When to Blur a Location Before Sharing It
Posting a trip, run, or photo spot
You want people to know roughly where you were without showing where you live or start your runs. Blur the pin first, then post it.
Publishing survey or research data
Location columns in survey or field data can point to individual households. Apply the same precision to every row before you release the file.
Showing an approximate spot on a public map
A home-based business, a rental listing, or a community map often needs an area, not a street address. Use a grid or random offset to show the area only.
Cleaning a long list of coordinates
Rounding dozens of points by hand invites mistakes. Paste the list, run one setting across all of it, and export the result as a CSV.
How to Blur Latitude and Longitude in 4 Steps
- Choose a blur method: round decimals, grid snap, or random offset.
- Set the precision: decimal places, grid size, or offset radius. Switch between ft/mi and m/km if you prefer.
- Enter a latitude and longitude, or tap "Use my current location." For a list, switch to Batch list and paste one pair per line.
- Check the moved distance, then copy the new coordinates or download the CSV.
Note: Your coordinates are processed in your browser and are not sent to our servers.
Limits of Coordinate Blurring
- The precision figure shown is a rough guide, not a guarantee. A blurred point can still be traced back if the setting is too fine for the area.
- Rounding and grid snap return the same output for the same input. If you post the same place many times, use random offset so the points differ.
- Random offset picks a point inside a circle around the original, and the result changes every time. Copy the value you want to use, because a new run will not repeat it.
- The Google Maps link opens the blurred point on a map. Nothing is sent to Google unless you click it.
Decimal Places vs. Real-World Distance
How far one step in the last decimal place of latitude covers on the ground. Use it to choose how many places to keep.
| Decimal places | Distance (north–south) | What it can narrow down to |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 69 mi (111 km) | A state or large region |
| 1 | 6.9 mi (11.1 km) | A city or large town |
| 2 | 0.69 mi (1.1 km) | A neighborhood or village |
| 3 | 365 ft (111 m) | A city block or a few buildings |
| 4 | 36.5 ft (11.1 m) | A single house or building |
| 5 | 3.7 ft (1.1 m) | A doorway or parking spot |
| 6 | 4.4 in (11 cm) | An exact point |
Figures use 1° of latitude ≈ 69.17 mi (111.32 km). East–west distance per degree of longitude shrinks toward the poles in proportion to the cosine of the latitude, so at 40°N it is about 77% of the north–south figure. For hiding a home address, 2 to 3 places is a common starting point.
Rounding, Grid Snapping, and Random Offset Compared
What each method does to your coordinates, and which one fits which job.
Why exact coordinates point to a home address
Six decimal places in latitude narrow a location to a few inches. A single pin like that already identifies a house.
Repeated posts make it worse. If several posts cluster around one spot, that spot is probably where you live or spend your time, even if each post looks vague on its own.
Round decimals, grid snap, or random offset: which should you use?
Round decimals keeps the number of places you pick for both values. It is the simplest option and easy to explain to others.
Grid snap moves the point to the nearest corner of a grid you size in feet, miles, meters, or kilometers. East–west spacing is adjusted for latitude, so cells stay roughly square, and points in the same row share one grid. That suits data sets.
Random offset moves the point to a random spot inside a circle of the radius you set. Each run gives a new result, which helps when you post from the same place repeatedly.
Photo location data (EXIF) is a separate problem
Photos can carry GPS coordinates in their EXIF metadata. Some platforms strip it on upload and some do not, so check before you rely on it.
This tool blurs numbers you enter. It does not edit image files, so turn off location tagging in your camera app or remove the metadata separately.
Releasing a data set that includes locations
Use Batch list to apply the same method and precision to every row, then download the CSV and spot-check it on a map.
Be careful in sparsely populated areas. Even a coarse cell may contain only one household, so a larger grid or radius may be needed there.
Common Location Privacy Mistakes
Dropping one decimal place and calling it done
Going from five places to four feels like a change, but four places still point to a single house, about 36 feet at a time.
💡 See the solution▼
Posting the same rounded point again and again
Rounding gives the same output every time. After a dozen posts from one spot, the cluster makes your location clear.
💡 See the solution▼
Leaving GPS data in the photo
You blur the coordinates in the caption, but the attached photo still carries its EXIF location tag.
💡 See the solution▼
Missing a few rows in a data file
In a long list, a handful of lines stay at full precision because they were skipped or pasted in later.
💡 See the solution▼
Using a grid so small it hides nothing
A 30-foot grid looks rounded but leaves the point on or next to the original spot.
💡 See the solution▼
Location Fuzzing FAQ
Q.How many decimal places should I keep to hide a home address?
A. A common starting point is 2 to 3 decimal places. Two places cover about 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north to south, and three cover about 365 feet (111 m). In dense cities, 3 places can still leave only a few buildings in the cell, so use 2 if you want a wider margin. In rural areas, go coarser still, because one house may be the only one for miles.
Q.Should I use grid snap or random offset?
A. For a single point you will publish once, either works. If you may post from the same place again and again, use random offset: each run gives a new result, so repeated posts don't pile up on one fixed point. Grid snap and rounding return the same output for the same input, which keeps a data set consistent but gives no extra spread across repeated posts.
Q.Are my coordinates sent to a server?
A. No. The coordinate math runs in your browser, and the numbers you type or paste are not sent to our servers. The "Use my current location" button asks your browser for your position and fills the fields locally. The one exception is the Google Maps link: if you click it, the blurred coordinates are sent to Google as part of the map URL.
Q.Can I blur a whole list of coordinates at once?
A. Yes. Switch to Batch list and paste one latitude and longitude pair per line, separated by a comma, semicolon, space, or tab. If a line has more than two values, only the first two are used. Lines that can't be read as a pair are skipped and counted. You can copy the results or download them as a CSV that includes the original and new values.
Q.Can the original location still be guessed from the blurred one?
A. Possibly. If you keep too many decimal places or use a small grid or radius, the original spot stays easy to infer. Posting the same place many times with rounding or grid snap can also narrow it down, since every post lands on the same point. Pick a coarse enough setting for your case, then check the result on a map before you publish.
Q.Does this remove GPS data from my photos?
A. No. This tool changes the numbers you enter. It does not open or edit image files, so EXIF location data in a photo stays as it is. To remove it, turn off location tagging in your camera app, or strip the metadata with a separate tool before you upload.
Q.How do I enter west or south coordinates?
A. Use negative numbers. Longitudes west of Greenwich, which covers the whole US, are negative (for example, -73.985130), and latitudes south of the equator are negative. The tool accepts decimal degrees as input. The result can be shown as decimal degrees or as degrees-minutes-seconds with the toggle on the result card.
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