<div dir="ltr">I think the Github page here already lists plenty of alternatives and explains well, why they were not used:<div><a href="https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/docs/comparison.adoc">https://github.com/google/open-location-code/blob/master/docs/comparison.adoc</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Daniel</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 7:10 AM, Gavin Fleming <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gavinjfleming@gmail.com" target="_blank">gavinjfleming@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>Or MapCode: <a href="http://www.mapcode.com/" target="_blank">http://www.mapcode.com/</a> .
It's already embedded in TomTom systems; however, it is open. Only
the master grid database is controlled centrally by a foundation.
<br>
<br>
There's definitely a place for a non-coordinate-based place
identifier, especially for the large proportion of the world's
population without formal addresses. It'll be interesting to see
what emerges. I've been thinking a mapcode plugin for QGIS would
be a nice idea... <br><div><div class="h5">
<br>
On 29/10/2014 23:00, Barry Rowlingson wrote:<br>
</div></div></div><div><div class="h5">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 8:34 PM,
Daniel Morissette <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dmorissette@mapgears.com" target="_blank">dmorissette@mapgears.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">This sounds very much
like the Natural Area Coding (NAC) system:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.nacgeo.com/" target="_blank">http://www.nacgeo.com/</a><br>
<br>
Interesting idea in theory, but in practice this has been
around for<br>
over a decade and hasn't really taken off, quite likely
because an<br>
alphanumerical code is not of much more use than pure
geographic<br>
coordinates.<br>
<br>
Or maybe it's like the case of "rasters in a database" [1]
and this<br>
concept just needs a strong champion to sell us the idea
and convince<br>
the world that we need it?<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> Or possibly because of non-open licensing terms?<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.nacgeo.com/nacsite/licensing/" target="_blank">http://www.nacgeo.com/nacsite/licensing/</a><br>
<br>
</div>
<div> I think I have seen some web services teaming up with
What3Words which does a similar thing except translates
coords to a word triple via a proprietary, secret,
server-based algorithm. Its cutesy nature ("I live at
monkey sponge gearstick") seems to appeal to many since it
makes memorable locations.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Anyhooo...<br>
</div>
<div><br>
<br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
Daniel<br>
<br>
[1] <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/postgis-users/2006-October/013569.html" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/postgis-users/2006-October/013569.html</a><br>
<div>
<div><br>
On 14-10-29 3:53 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:<br>
> Hi Doug,<br>
> An interesting and potentially useful concept.<br>
> It sounds like you are proposing a spatial
standard. Have you approached<br>
> the Open Geospatial Consortium about getting the
standard endorsed?<br>
><br>
> With regards to any code which you wish to
produce and open source, I<br>
> suggest considering bringing it under the
umbrella of the Open Source<br>
> Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).<br>
> Details about OSGeo incubation here:<br>
> <a href="http://www.osgeo.org/incubator" target="_blank">http://www.osgeo.org/incubator</a><br>
><br>
><br>
> On 30/10/2014 1:08 am, Doug Rinckes wrote:<br>
>> I'm an engineer at Google, and I have just
open sourced a geo project<br>
>> we've been working on for a while.<br>
>><br>
>> I used to work on our maps, detecting missing
road networks and in my<br>
>> spare time mapping roads in Papua New Guinea,
Central and West Africa<br>
>> from the satellite imagery. But without
street names or addresses, a<br>
>> road network isn't all that useful. People
can't use it for<br>
>> directions, because they can't express where
they want directions to.<br>
>> After talking with colleagues from around the
world, I discovered<br>
>> that's it actually very common for streets to
be unnamed.<br>
>><br>
>> We thought that we should provide short codes
that could be used like<br>
>> addresses, to give the location of homes,
businesses, anything. If we<br>
>> made them usable from smartphones, we can
make addresses for anywhere<br>
>> available to anyone with a smartphone pretty
much immediately.<br>
>><br>
>> We had some specific requirements, including
that these address codes<br>
>> should work offline, they shouldn't spell
words or include easily<br>
>> confused characters. We wanted to be able to
look at two codes and<br>
>> tell if they are near each other, and
estimate the direction and even<br>
>> the distance. The codes should not be
generated by a single provider,<br>
>> because what do you do when they disappear?
Finally, it had to be open<br>
>> sourced.<br>
>><br>
>> Open sourcing the project was important. We
wanted to allow everyone<br>
>> to evaluate it so that we don't go
implementing something that turns<br>
>> out to not be useful. If it does turn out to
be useful, everyone<br>
>> (including other mapping providers) should be
able to implement it and<br>
>> use the codes freely.<br>
>><br>
>> I'm pre-announcing this to a couple of geo
lists today, and I'll be<br>
>> sticking around for comments and questions.
The following links<br>
>> provide more information:<br>
>><br>
>> Github project: <a href="https://github.com/google/open-location-code" target="_blank">https://github.com/google/open-location-code</a><br>
</div>
</div>
>> Demonstration website: <a href="http://plus.codes" target="_blank">http://plus.codes</a>
<<a href="http://plus.codes/" target="_blank">http://plus.codes/</a>><br>
>> Discussion list:<br>
>> <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/open-location-code" target="_blank">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/open-location-code</a><br>
>> <<a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/open-location-code" target="_blank">https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/open-location-code</a>><br>
<span>>><br>
>> Enjoy!<br>
>><br>
>> Doug<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> Discuss mailing list<br>
>> <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
>> <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Cameron Shorter,<br>
> Software and Data Solutions Manager<br>
> LISAsoft<br>
> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,<br>
> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009<br>
><br>
</span>> P <a href="tel:%2B61%202%209009%205000" value="+61290095000" target="_blank">+61
2 9009 5000</a>, <a href="http://Wwww.lisasoft.com" target="_blank">Wwww.lisasoft.com</a>,
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<span>><br>
><br>
><br>
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><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
</span><span><font color="#888888">Daniel
Morissette<br>
T: <a href="tel:%2B1%20418-696-5056%20%23201" value="+14186965056" target="_blank">+1 418-696-5056 #201</a><br>
<a href="http://www.mapgears.com/" target="_blank">http://www.mapgears.com/</a><br>
Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000<br>
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</div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><pre cols="72">--
Gavin Fleming
t: 0218620670
w: 0218630660
c: <a href="tel:0845965680" value="+81845965680" target="_blank">0845965680</a>
f: <a href="tel:0866164820" value="+81866164820" target="_blank">0866164820</a>
Paarl
South Africa
18°59'19.6"E 33°44'46.1"S</pre>
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