diff --git a/base/db/DESCRIPTION b/base/db/DESCRIPTION
index 76b55aed168..c2a94da9ac4 100644
--- a/base/db/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/base/db/DESCRIPTION
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ Suggests:
     rmarkdown (>= 2.19),
     testthat (>= 2.0.0),
     tidyverse,
-    withr
+    withr,
+    openssl
 License: BSD_3_clause + file LICENSE
 VignetteBuilder: knitr
 Copyright: Authors
diff --git a/base/db/NAMESPACE b/base/db/NAMESPACE
index 938b1cfe2d4..7379be2d1de 100644
--- a/base/db/NAMESPACE
+++ b/base/db/NAMESPACE
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ export(derive.traits)
 export(dplyr.count)
 export(fancy_scientific)
 export(get.id)
+export(get.new.site)
 export(get.trait.data)
 export(get.trait.data.pft)
 export(get_postgres_envvars)
diff --git a/base/db/R/get.new.site.R b/base/db/R/get.new.site.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c44354aae1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/db/R/get.new.site.R
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+##' Get new site info using provided site information
+##'
+##' @title Get New Site Info
+##' @param site a dataframe with site information including id, lat, lon, and time_zone.
+##' @param con Database connection object.
+##' @param latlon Optional global latlon object which will store updated lat/lon.
+##' @return a dataframe with new site information on lat, lon and time_zone
+##' @export
+##' @author Abhinav Pandey
+##'
+##' @examples
+##' get.new.site(site=data.frame(id=1,lat=40.1,lon=-88.2,time_zone="UTC"),con=NULL,latlon=NULL)
+
+get.new.site <- function(site, con = NULL, latlon = NULL) {
+    if (is.null(con)) {
+        PEcAn.logger::logger.debug("DB connection is closed. Trying to generate a new site ID or use pre-existing one.")
+        # No DB connection present. Generate a new ID using one of below steps:
+
+        if (is.null(site$id) | is.na(site$id)) {
+            if ((!is.null(site$lat) && !is.null(site$lon)) &&
+                (!is.na(site$lat) && !is.na(site$lon))
+            ) {
+                site.id <- paste0(lat, "_", lon)
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = as.numeric(site.id),
+                    lat = site$lat,
+                    lon = site$lon
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(new.site$lat, "_", new.site$lon)
+            } # lat/lon present but ID is absent
+            # Use Pre-existing normalised lat/lon
+            else {
+                PEcAn.logger::logger.warn("Site dataframe does not have an id column")
+                site.id <- generate_new_siteID()
+                PEcAn.logger::logger.info(paste0("Generated siteID:", site.id))
+                # Optionally, create a new site data frame with the random ID
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = site.id,
+                    lat = NULL,
+                    lon = NULL
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(new.site$id %/% 1e+09, "_", new.site$id %% 1e+09)
+                # We used a different str_ns as identifier here due to absence of lat/lon
+            }
+            # ID as well as lat/lon absent.
+            # Return a WARN as we will be unable to identify such an instance due to lack of information.
+            # We'll try to Generate a new ID similar to previous ones.
+        } else {
+            if ((!is.null(site$lat) && !is.null(site$lon)) &&
+                (!is.na(site$lat) && !is.na(site$lon))
+            ) {
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = as.numeric(site$id),
+                    lat = site$lat,
+                    lon = site$lon
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(new.site$lat, "-", new.site$lon)
+            } # siteId as well as lat/lon present
+            else {
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = site$id,
+                    lat = NULL,
+                    lon = NULL
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(new.site$id %/% 1e+09, "-", new.site$id %% 1e+09)
+            } # siteId present but lat/lon absent
+        }
+    } else {
+        # Check if site dataframe has an id column
+        if (is.null(site$id) | is.na(site$id)) {
+            PEcAn.logger::logger.warn("Site dataframe does not have an id column. Generating a unique ID")
+            if ((!is.null(site$lat) && !is.null(site$lon)) &&
+                (!is.na(site$lat) && !is.na(site$lon))
+            ) {
+                PEcAn.logger::logger.info(paste0("Generated siteID using lat and lon:", site.id))
+                site.id <- generate_new_siteID(site$lat, site$lon)
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = as.numeric(site.id),
+                    lat = site$lat,
+                    lon = site$lon
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(site$lat, "-", site$lon)
+            } else {
+                PEcAn.logger::logger.severe("Missing site-id, site lat & site-lon. Stopping the process due to lack of information")
+            }
+        } else {
+            # setup site database number, lat, lon and name and copy for format.vars if new input
+            if ((!is.null(site$lat) && !is.null(site$lon)) |
+                (!is.na(site$lat) && !is.na(site$lon))
+            ) {
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = as.numeric(site$id),
+                    lat = site$lat,
+                    lon = site$lon
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(site$lat, "_", site$lon)
+            } else {
+                latlon <- query.site(site$id, con = con)[c("lat", "lon")]
+                new.site <- data.frame(
+                    id = as.numeric(site$id),
+                    lat = latlon$lat,
+                    lon = latlon$lon
+                )
+                str_ns <- paste0(new.site$lat, "_", new.site$lon)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    site.info <- list(new.site = new.site, str_ns = str_ns)
+
+    return(site.info)
+}
+
+
+# Function to generate a new siteID using hashing (db-less runs ONLY)
+generate_new_siteID <- function(lat, lon) {
+    latlon_str <- paste0(round(lat, 8), round(lon, 8))
+    hash <- openssl::sha256(latlon_str)
+    
+    # Extracting first 10 characters of hash as a UID
+    uid <- substr(as.character(hash), 1, 10)
+    return(uid)
+}
diff --git a/base/db/man/get.new.site.Rd b/base/db/man/get.new.site.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f00c6103513
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/db/man/get.new.site.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/get.new.site.R
+\name{get.new.site}
+\alias{get.new.site}
+\title{Get New Site Info}
+\usage{
+get.new.site(site, con = NULL, latlon = NULL)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{site}{a dataframe with site information including id, lat, lon, and time_zone.}
+
+\item{con}{Database connection object.}
+
+\item{latlon}{Optional global latlon object which will store updated lat/lon.}
+}
+\value{
+a dataframe with new site information on lat, lon and time_zone
+}
+\description{
+Get new site info using provided site information
+}
+\examples{
+get.new.site(site=data.frame(id=1,lat=40.1,lon=-88.2,time_zone="UTC"),con=NULL,latlon=NULL)
+}
+\author{
+Abhinav Pandey
+}
diff --git a/base/workflow/R/do_conversions.R b/base/workflow/R/do_conversions.R
index 50fd71e812e..f69311f5c84 100644
--- a/base/workflow/R/do_conversions.R
+++ b/base/workflow/R/do_conversions.R
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 ##' @author Ryan Kelly, Rob Kooper, Betsy Cowdery, Istem Fer
 
 do_conversions <- function(settings, overwrite.met = FALSE, overwrite.fia = FALSE, overwrite.ic = FALSE) {
+
   if (PEcAn.settings::is.MultiSettings(settings)) {
     return(PEcAn.settings::papply(settings, do_conversions))
   }
diff --git a/docker/depends/pecan_package_dependencies.csv b/docker/depends/pecan_package_dependencies.csv
index 42e3077f261..944b62b4db8 100644
--- a/docker/depends/pecan_package_dependencies.csv
+++ b/docker/depends/pecan_package_dependencies.csv
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@
 "neonUtilities","*","modules/data.land","Imports",FALSE
 "nimble","*","modules/assim.sequential","Imports",FALSE
 "nneo","*","modules/data.atmosphere","Imports",FALSE
+"openssl","*","base/db","Suggests",FALSE
 "optparse","*","base/settings","Imports",FALSE
 "parallel","*","modules/assim.batch","Imports",FALSE
 "parallel","*","modules/data.atmosphere","Suggests",FALSE
diff --git a/modules/data.atmosphere/R/met.process.R b/modules/data.atmosphere/R/met.process.R
index 1380e324744..3f9b5e371bd 100644
--- a/modules/data.atmosphere/R/met.process.R
+++ b/modules/data.atmosphere/R/met.process.R
@@ -133,11 +133,12 @@ met.process <- function(site, input_met, start_date, end_date, model,
   
   
   # setup site database number, lat, lon and name and copy for format.vars if new input
-  latlon <- PEcAn.DB::query.site(site$id, con = con)[c("lat", "lon")] 
-  new.site <- data.frame(id = as.numeric(site$id), 
-                         lat = latlon$lat, 
-                         lon = latlon$lon)
-  str_ns <- paste0(new.site$id %/% 1e+09, "-", new.site$id %% 1e+09)
+  latlon <- NULL
+  site.info <- PEcAn.DB::get.new.site(site, con=con, latlon = latlon)
+
+  # extract new.site and str_ns from site.info
+  new.site <- site.info$new.site
+  str_ns <- site.info$str_ns
   
   if (is.null(format.vars$lat)) {
     format.vars$lat <- new.site$lat
diff --git a/modules/data.atmosphere/tests/testthat/test.met.process.R b/modules/data.atmosphere/tests/testthat/test.met.process.R
index 01e819c0744..b39e6198737 100644
--- a/modules/data.atmosphere/tests/testthat/test.met.process.R
+++ b/modules/data.atmosphere/tests/testthat/test.met.process.R
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-test_that("`met.process` able to call .download.raw.met.module based on met process stage params", {
+test_that("'met.process' able to call .download.raw.met.module based on met process stage params", {
   input_met <- list(source = 'CRUNCEP', id = '1')
 
   mockery::stub(met.process, 'PEcAn.DB::db.open', 1)
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ test_that("`met.process` able to call .download.raw.met.module based on met proc
   mockery::stub(met.process, 'PEcAn.DB::query.format.vars', list())
   mockery::stub(met.process, 'PEcAn.DB::dbfile.check', list(id = 1))
   mockery::stub(met.process, 'assign', 1)
-  mockery::stub(met.process, 'PEcAn.DB::query.site', list(lat = 0, lon = 0))
+  mockery::stub(met.process, 'PEcAn.DB::get.new.site', list(new.site = data.frame(id = 1, lat = 0, lon = 0), str_ns = "0-0"))
   mockery::stub(met.process, 'met.process.stage', list(download.raw = TRUE, met2cf = FALSE, standardize = FALSE, met2model = FALSE))
 
   mocked_res <- mockery::mock(1)
diff --git a/modules/data.land/R/ic_process.R b/modules/data.land/R/ic_process.R
index 2c402692835..5e799dde61b 100644
--- a/modules/data.land/R/ic_process.R
+++ b/modules/data.land/R/ic_process.R
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 ##' @param input Taken from settings$run$inputs. This should include id, path, and source
 ##' @param dir settings$database$dbfiles
 ##' @param overwrite Default = FALSE. whether to force ic_process to proceed
+##' @param site Current site information
 ##'
 ##' @author Istem Fer, Hamze Dokoohaki
 ic_process <- function(settings, input, dir, overwrite = FALSE){
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ ic_process <- function(settings, input, dir, overwrite = FALSE){
 
   #--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
   # Extract info from settings and setup
-  site       <- settings$run$site
+  site <- settings$run$site
   model <- list()
     model$type <- settings$model$type
     model$id <- settings$model$id
@@ -49,15 +50,25 @@ ic_process <- function(settings, input, dir, overwrite = FALSE){
   con <- PEcAn.DB::db.open(dbparms$bety)
   on.exit(PEcAn.DB::db.close(con), add = TRUE)
   
-  #grab site lat and lon info
-  latlon <- PEcAn.DB::query.site(site$id, con = con)[c("lat", "lon")] 
   # setup site database number, lat, lon and name and copy for format.vars if new input
-  new.site <- data.frame(id = as.numeric(site$id),
-                         lat = latlon$lat,
-                         lon = latlon$lon)
+  latlon <- NULL
+  if(is.null(site$lat) | is.null(site$lon)) {
+    site.info <- PEcAn.DB::get.new.site(site, con=con, latlon = latlon)
 
-  new.site$name <- settings$run$site$name
+    # extract new.site and str_ns from site.info
+    new.site <- site.info$new.site
+    str_ns <- site.info$str_ns
+  } else {
+    latlon <- list(lon = site$lat, lon=site$lon)
+    new.site <- data.frame(
+      id = as.numeric(site$id),
+      lat = site$lat,
+      lon = site$lon
+    )
+    str_ns <- paste0(site$lat, "-", site$lon)
+  }
 
+  new.site$name <- settings$run$site$name
 
   str_ns <- paste0(new.site$id %/% 1e+09, "-", new.site$id %% 1e+09)
 
diff --git a/modules/data.land/R/soil_process.R b/modules/data.land/R/soil_process.R
index 6ee57347b21..988aecfe1db 100644
--- a/modules/data.land/R/soil_process.R
+++ b/modules/data.land/R/soil_process.R
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ soil_process <- function(settings, input, dbfiles, overwrite = FALSE,run.local=T
   # set up bety connection
   con <- PEcAn.DB::db.open(dbparms$bety)
   on.exit(PEcAn.DB::db.close(con), add = TRUE)
+  
   # get site info
   latlon <- PEcAn.DB::query.site(site$id, con = con)[c("lat", "lon")]
   new.site <- data.frame(id = as.numeric(site$id),
diff --git a/modules/data.land/man/ic_process.Rd b/modules/data.land/man/ic_process.Rd
index dcf245e41f8..524ffc3f95f 100644
--- a/modules/data.land/man/ic_process.Rd
+++ b/modules/data.land/man/ic_process.Rd
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ ic_process(settings, input, dir, overwrite = FALSE)
 \item{dir}{settings$database$dbfiles}
 
 \item{overwrite}{Default = FALSE. whether to force ic_process to proceed}
+
+\item{site}{Current site information}
 }
 \description{
 ic_process