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Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

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Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#131

Post by frogpelt »

aw3c2 wrote: post #127
dvcc wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that was the case we might run into naming collisions if there are multiple cities with the same street names. It would be best if we namespace it to the city as well. So we would have something like { "street": "Church Street", "length": "5", "city": "Church City" } all of course packaged in JSON.

That's a great idea and will help making addresses more solid. I would suggest we also add some more levels like the country the city is in?

This is getting too complicated.

We need some sort of code attached to each address that can represent an area, so addresses can be organized quickly.

I vote for a 5 digit code, at least in the U.S.

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#132

Post by creshal »

dvcc wrote: post #122
aw3c2 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great idea, maybe something like "church street" and a number that denotes a length on that street?

If that was the case we might run into naming collisions if there are multiple cities with the same street names. It would be best if we namespace it to the city as well. So we would have something like { "street": "Church Street", "length": "5", "city": "Church City" } all of course packaged in JSON.

Well-structured data like this is better encapsulated in XML:

    
        
    	
    	    
        	5
    		
        	    
                    Church City 
    	        ]]>
Isn't that much more legible and understandable?

(I hate XML. So much. This shouldn't be a valid document in any language.)

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#133

Post by rattray »

mabbo wrote: post #80

Maybe I'm missing something but why does "Pearl" mean 8480 and "Magical" -6129? If that's a hash, I really dislike this, because A: humans can't do hashing in their heads, and B: get one letter wrong and suddenly you don't have the right address. This has also been my big opposition to what3word. Addresses need to be resilient. If I make a tiny mistake in my address, there should be enough redundant data to help fix…

https://github.com/roberdam/Xaddress/tree/master/by_hand

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#134

Post by roberdam »

niftich wrote: post #129

At first I was skeptical of 'yet another geocode', but the addition of the avatar alongside it (for error-checking and instant-recognizability purposes) makes this scheme intriguing, and in my opinion, far better than any other geocoding. It's essentially a combination of an Identicon [1] (of sorts, but with actual clip-art) and hash wordlist, but transmitted together as a unit. This is a very good idea and exploits…

Thanks niftich, you can try the spanish version as well http://test.xaddress.org/try?lng=es and more languages can be included.

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#135

Post by niftich »

roberdam wrote: post #134
niftich wrote: post #129

At first I was skeptical of 'yet another geocode', but the addition of the avatar alongside it (for error-checking and instant-recognizability purposes) makes this scheme intriguing, and in my opinion, far better than any other geocoding. It's essentially a combination of an Identicon [1] (of sorts, but with actual clip-art) and hash wordlist, but transmitted together as a unit. This is a very good idea and exploits…

Thanks niftich, you can try the spanish version as well http://test.xaddress.org/try?lng=es and more languages can be included.

I'm not sure if having a distinct wordlist for every language is helpful though, as then you can't easily tell that two addresses are the same.

Arguably, the desirable features of a geocode are:

[a] more memorizable/recognizable than coordinates

[b] you can easily tell whether two addresses are the same

[c] error-resistant, or at least error-detecting (if you can't correct the error, at least be able to tell there is an error so you know the whole thing is corrupt)

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#136

Post by pritianka »

pns wrote: post #128
mabbo wrote: post #80

Maybe I'm missing something but why does "Pearl" mean 8480 and "Magical" -6129? If that's a hash, I really dislike this, because A: humans can't do hashing in their heads, and B: get one letter wrong and suddenly you don't have the right address. This has also been my big opposition to what3word. Addresses need to be resilient. If I make a tiny mistake in my address, there should be enough redundant data to help fix…

From having worked on addressing in Nairobi, Kenya for the past two years, I can tell you the precision problem is worse than you think actually. You're making the assumption * someone knows how to use a map to a very high degree of precision (not true often) * GPS is accurate enough, and this is a double whammy - on initial assignment of the GPS point (i.e. it's the GPS of their door/gate, not of their living room c…

100% agree on the map usage and GPS precision. I've seen some pretty bad GPS in smaller towns in India.

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#137

Post by hangonhn »

pns wrote: post #128
mabbo wrote: post #80

Maybe I'm missing something but why does "Pearl" mean 8480 and "Magical" -6129? If that's a hash, I really dislike this, because A: humans can't do hashing in their heads, and B: get one letter wrong and suddenly you don't have the right address. This has also been my big opposition to what3word. Addresses need to be resilient. If I make a tiny mistake in my address, there should be enough redundant data to help fix…

From having worked on addressing in Nairobi, Kenya for the past two years, I can tell you the precision problem is worse than you think actually. You're making the assumption * someone knows how to use a map to a very high degree of precision (not true often) * GPS is accurate enough, and this is a double whammy - on initial assignment of the GPS point (i.e. it's the GPS of their door/gate, not of their living room c…

I am really interested in what you've learned because you obviously know a lot about a problem that's very physical and concreate. What is your approach or what will it be? However, you website is horrible at communicating any of that. I learned 4 billion people don't have addresses. OK great. Now what?

"We want to physically connect the world with an address system that works.

OkHi is unlocking commerce through enhanced logistics, saving lives through improved emergency services and growing access to finance through better personal identification."

OK... how?

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#138

Post by camiller »

dvcc wrote: post #130
aw3c2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great idea and will help making addresses more solid. I would suggest we also add some more levels like the country the city is in?

Wonderful idea, and we could even go so far as standardizing how we write it so that we don't need to worry about putting it into JSON and makes it more memorable for humans. Something like: Length Street City Country

To the extent that a single address might be home to more than one person, shouldn't we pre-pend the name of the specified person to the address?

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#139

Post by roberdam »

niftich wrote: post #135
roberdam wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks niftich, you can try the spanish version as well http://test.xaddress.org/try?lng=es and more languages can be included.

I'm not sure if having a distinct wordlist for every language is helpful though, as then you can't easily tell that two addresses are the same. Arguably, the desirable features of a geocode are: [a] more memorizable/recognizable than coordinates [b] you can easily tell whether two addresses are the same [c] error-resistant, or at least error-detecting (if you can't correct the error, at least be able to tell there is…

It can be https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12262754 in this case "Nándorfejérvári út 4" can be shared as "CRUEL RUN 4604 - Budapest, Hungary

Re: Show HN: Give 7B people an instant physical address

#140

Post by camiller »

frogpelt wrote: post #131
aw3c2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great idea and will help making addresses more solid. I would suggest we also add some more levels like the country the city is in?

This is getting too complicated. We need some sort of code attached to each address that can represent an area, so addresses can be organized quickly. I vote for a 5 digit code, at least in the U.S.

that might be insufficient for densely populated areas, perhaps an additional optional 4 digits?
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