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Universal Alphanumeric Postal Code Proposed
Meshach writes "An article in the Globe and Mail is discussing a possible change to the way postal codes are assigned over the world. NAC Geographic Products will be using Microsoft's MapPoint to power their Mobile Location-Based Services Network, which could change all postal codes in the world to a simpler, more universal format."
If they really wanted to simplify postal coding/addressing they'd do something first about these damn addresses for people in South Korea, and a few other countries, which are like a whole paragraph long! Ever have to fill out those little customs forms? Yeah, you know how fun that can be.
Idealists are more trouble to logistics than would be required to just take them out back and drown them it a bucket of water.
"Hey, isn't that a quarter in that bucket?"
Besides, strong initial resistance to this plan, there's probably some disingenuous patent and royalty speculation riding on this.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Try remembering that one. I'm happy with five numbers. Atleast I can make some sort of memory device of that.
With Microsoft in control of the system, Finland will mysteriously disappear from all the routing systems...
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Which means that as a New Jersey resident, my postal code would be:
5h1+h0l3
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
I suppose that will mean Santa Claus' Postal Code will change from the current form:
:(
H0H 0H0
And thats too bad
Simplification: Trinity College moves from Dublin 2 to Dublin 1BF45S8I0A.
Precision: Swap two digits and your letter to Grandma ends up Beyond Rangoon.
Availability: MS owns the postal system. Can't wait to see the EULA ("By licking this stamp...").
I can't wait for Universal Location Codes v6.
With 1.8e4806 possible locations, it will be worth everyone memorizing a simple 2Meg file.
I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
...its called a 10 figure grid reference, and is accurate down to square meter.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
The purpose of a postal code is to provide an encoding system that allows the postal distribution network to route mail first between hubs, then down to a local sorting office, and finally into a postman's walk number.
The purpose is not to locate point X on a sphere, we already have a perfectly adequate global coordinate system for that.
Expect Microsoft to add hooks into your Address Book (so you can easily print envelopes with the correct zip code, of course). Then the next Outlook Macro virus with send junk paper mail to everyone in your address book. Once it is also integrated with eStamp, all hell will break loose. Your postal carrier will shoot you when he/she finds 1.3 million outgoing letters in your mailbox.
Good idea. My GPS receiver has a display mode called MGRS (Military Grid Reference System), which maps (with some calculation) to latitude and longitude.
Example MGRS coordinates:
16 T CP 12345 67890
where:
- 16 = a 6-degree slice of longitude
- T = a 8-degree slice of latitude
- CP = letters indicating a 100 km x 100 km square inside the slices listed above
- 12345 = "easting" in meters from the west edge of the square
- 67890 = "northing" in meters from the south edge of the square
Actually kind of nice -- the military uses maps with the squares and easting/northing values pre-printed. Also really nice for quick rough calculations of distance and bearing. If someone wants to use an alphanumeric code representing geographic location, might as well use one that's (1) already standardized and (2) usable by a human....could change all postal codes in the world to a simpler, more universal format.
What's that sound?
It's the sound of millions of database application programmers screaming in agony.
The Normalization Monkey says, "Who's laughing now! Bwahahaha!"
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Before we get completely bogged down by the ever-increasing number of often conflicting "standards", we need to adopt a "Standard Standard". That is to say, a standard which standardizes the standardization of standards. The first self-referential standard in this meta standard must say, of course, that "Standard Standard" is the standard standard standard. Anyone who implements this standard standard will immediately realize huge profits corresponding to the savings accrued by eliminating the standard duplication of standards which has become the standard.
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
It gets better!
Let's say that you wanted to narrow things down to approximately 1-mile. 1-mile is approx 1 minute (1/60 of one degree) of longitude.
360 degrees * 60 minutes = 21600 different minutes on the face of the earth.
26 letters plus 10 numbers = 36! Subtract "confusables" (I, O, S, Z) -- 32 possible characters! 32^3 = 32768! The number of character combinations is greater than the number of minutes in one direction. It is a simple math exercise to create a base-32 numbering system and to enumerate all possible minute/second combinations.
Therefore, three characters can represent your latitude to the nearest mile (give or take), and another three characters for your longitude! A new universal six-digit zip code!
And all of this in 5 minutes with a simple calculator! What is the big deal? Devising a system such as this is trivial. Getting people to use it is the hard part.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
Since 70% of the postal codes will be in the middle of the ocean, I can't wait to send out snail mail to random addresses. "Return to sender: no creature with opposable thumbs was available to sign for delivery. Try back in 3 billion years."
I move around a lot. My dream would be to have a unique post code for each person. The post office could keep this number in a database and, if anybody wanted to reach you, they would just have to write your name and number and it would be sent to your current address. I would even pay to have this happen. I'm just tired of filling out forms and having people send me stuff at addresses that I haven't lived in for years...
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!