Domain: plus.codes
Stories and comments across the archive that link to plus.codes.
Comments · 6
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Exactly, +1 for Plus Codes
https://plus.codes/ is the URL.
They work in Google Maps, BTW.There are rural places all over the world that need a good addressing system that works regardless of internet connections.
They are open. Anyone can use the algorithm. That's why W3W fails with their proprietary crap. If w3w opened it up, it is a great tool.
Plus.codes let you determine the resolution - need a few acres or a tiny food stall - you decide.
They don't use look-alike letters/numbers.I lived at 66XQXRXV+XC for a few months, then moved to 762Q858M+9G. The first official address was "500m south and 500m east of the local church". The 2nd official address was "500m north of Johnny's Pizzeria"
.. but Johnny's had burned down 5 yrs before I moved there.
In Nepal, I lived at 7MV7P9MG+9P. To get snailmail, packages are mailed to the local Ma-Pa convenience store a few blocks away. They want a cell phone number on the outside so the manager can call it to get the package picked up.There are lots of places in the world that don't have addresses - Nepal is one. Costa Rica outside San Jose is another.
Tokyo addresses are numbered in the order they were built, so #1 could be 3 miles for #2 and #67 could be next to #2.South Korea is using 2 addressing methods now - the old one and the newer one which is more like the USA. It will take another 30 years for the older addresses to stop being used - need people to die off. Plus Korea has included delivery in many of their stores for 50+ yrs.
PlusCodes work in OSM tools as well, just not all of them, which is too bad.
Why not just use GPS coords? Because there are 3 different systems (dec, hms, h.dec) and people don't memorize 14 numbers very well.
There are a few other methods. None are as clear, simple, concise, as plus.codes.
The implementation code was in github last time I looked. -
Already solved problem
Already solved. No, not that idiotic "3 words" thing. The plus codes already do this. https://plus.codes/ And done.
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I like Plus Codes
I like Plus Codes. They are well thought out and open and free. I'd like to see more adoption of it.
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Re:Not metric?
https://plus.codes/ show it's really 12m x 15m
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Re:Why?
Japan has addresses, they just aren't street addresses. But they work and are unique, and unless you are a web form developer who thinks the whole world has middle names, states and zip codes, no problem that needs solving exists. They just have a different system.
Many countries have their own variations of systems. Whether street numbers are sequential or even/odd divided upon the two sides. If different entrances to the same building get different numbers, or an entrance designator (e.g. in Vienna you very often get a street address like Somestreet 5/2 where the
/2 indicates the 2nd entrance).This system and its competitors were invented to address your second situation - where no streets exist. That could be geographical (villages clustered around a central point but without streets per se) or circumstancial (slums with no official streets existing) or for any other kind of reason (that old castle on the mountain which is now a Hotel).
I honestly have no idea why they invented a system for that. We already can give the coordinates of any point on Earth with any amount of precision that you need. Sure, VXX7+39 might be slightly shorter than 38.8973,-77.0364 - but it doesn't give me information, for example how far away QXW5+38 is. 38.8039,-77.022 does.
But all that is besides the point. Cities are not just their geography. Many large buildings, for example, have one official entrance for the public to use. The geography of the building doesn't tell you that. The street address does. And many buildings have their doors close to the next buildings entrance, I know several examples where they can both easily fall within the same 3x3m square. Street address makes it clear.
A street address also tells me (if I know the numbering system) which end of a street I need to start at. Here in Vienna, for example,6CJ8+QV and 7FGH+6M are on the same street. The Plus codes gives you no useful information whatsoever. With the street address you can take one look at the nearest building and understand which direction and about how far away each of these destinations is if you are somewhere on that street.
So as a real-life navigation system, zero usefulness.
As a coordinate system, weaker than the ones we already have.
Plus (pun intended) you need access to Google Maps to figure out your current location in Plus Code. But every smartphone will tell you your GPS coordinates, doesn't even need a working network.Even after checking their Benefits page I still fail to see any advantage whatsoever.
what3words at least has the benefit of memorability.
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Open Location (Plus) Codes
I'm surprised nobody's brought up Open Location / Plus Codes yet:
* More concise
* Language-independent
* Flexible precision (8FW4V7FW+G2 and "Paris V7FW+G2" both point to the Arc de Triomphe)
* Can refer to cities (8FW4), suburbs (8FW4V7), blocks of a few metres (8FW4V7FW+G2), or even a specific door
* Can use just the last characters for near-by locations (e.g. FW+G2)
* Unique and easily generated from lat/long
* FOSS support
* Already supported by Google Maps