Developers: are you aware of mapcodes?

[Foxhound5366]

Here are two quick questions for all software developers on here:
1: Are you aware of Mapcodes? [Introduction to Mapcodes]
2: If yes, are you already incorporating mapcodes as an alternative to addressing (or have plans to); and if not, why not? (e.g. do you have an alternative you prefer and why?)

I'm asking these questions because I really hate the inaccuracy and error-prone nature of long 'conventional' addresses, and with Mapcodes as a free public-domain global alternative I'd just love to know whether their introduction is being hampered by a general lack of awareness in the developer community; or whether developers have a preference for a different system (e.g. what3words).

Thanks for any insights into this!

 

[stricken]

General lack of awareness I'd say.

 

[DA-LION-619]

So what I do is.
1. Use the Google Maps API.
2. Query an address, get the PlaceId which is unique.
3. Store that.

 

[koeksGHT]

So what I do is.
1. Use the Google Maps API.
2. Query an address, get the PlaceId which is unique.
3. Store that.

^

 

[Foxhound5366]

So what I do is.
1. Use the Google Maps API.
2. Query an address, get the PlaceId which is unique.
3. Store that.

Yes, that's fine on the back-end, but mapcodes are designed to be used on the front-end by actual people. Have you ever used the PlaceId on a business card or a website's 'Contact us' page? Do you see an operations manager reading out a PlaceId over the phone to a driver who's already in the field? What do you do in those instances?

 

[DA-LION-619]

Yes, that's fine on the back-end, but mapcodes are designed to be used on the front-end by actual people. Have you ever used the PlaceId on a business card or a website's 'Contact us' page? Do you see an operations manager reading out a PlaceId over the phone to a driver who's already in the field? What do you do in those instances?

err Google's JS API?
Just put the formatted address from Google Maps on the business card.

 

[Arthur]

err Google's JS API?
Just put the formatted address from Google Maps on the business card.

Google Maps?? Haha.

 

[Foxhound5366]

err Google's JS API?
Just put the formatted address from Google Maps on the business card.

That's not the same thing as a mapcode, is it? Even a formatted address will always be inaccurate and error-prone: more data required to enter and interpret, multiple streets with the same name, incomplete or irregular street numbering etc. A mapcode is an alternative to GPS coordinates, requiring as little as 4-5 characters (and a three-letter country designation if moving beyond country borders).

 

[DA-LION-619]

Google Maps?? Haha.

?

 

[Thor]

What3words

 

[DA-LION-619]

That's not the same thing as a mapcode, is it? Even a formatted address will always be inaccurate and error-prone: more data required to enter and interpret, multiple streets with the same name, incomplete or irregular street numbering etc. A mapcode is an alternative to GPS coordinates, requiring as little as 4-5 characters (and a three-letter country designation if moving beyond country borders).

I honestly don't get your point here. Users are not good with codes no matter how easy they are.
The Google Maps API will return all the information you need.

Send that info to the guy in the field, opens it in Google Maps, PROFIT???

 

[Foxhound5366]

What3words

*facepalm* Did you not see where I asked *why* you prefer what3words to Mapcodes? [Here's the what3words link for anybody interested]

Take the what3words code I got when I opened the map randomly: amused.thunder.wins

I see many issues with that, from the number of characters, to ease with which words can be misheard (never mind the cultural implications of using English), and finally it doesn't seem very corporate to have (for example) the Head Office of FNB represented by amused.thunder.wins (do you see them putting *that* on their business cards?).

 

[Foxhound5366]

Send that info to the guy in the field, opens it in Google Maps, PROFIT???

Oh I dunno, how about advertising? A short mapcode could feasibly be shared on a storefront sign or an advertising billboard, whereas an entire lengthy physical address never could.

Or how about communication benefits? How do you intend to 'send that info to the guy in the field'? By sms? By whatsapp? By e-mail? By a phonecall? Under which circumstances would a long physical address ever be faster or more convenient than a 5-digit mapcode?

Or how about mobile optimisation (that thing everybody is raving about these days): how much easier would it be to enter five characters that represent an address and route towards it on your phone or even your smartwatch, rather than typing out a whole physical address?

Finally there is the confidence of the thing: you enter a code that you know is as accurate as GPS coordinates ... you don't have to wonder what to do in those many instances where there are no street numbers recorded for a street (or heck - there is NO formal address at all, like "50km outside of Port Elizabeth on the N1, near that big tree and the dead cow skeleton."

Are you sure you still can't see any benefits of mapcodes?

 

[DA-LION-619]

Oh I dunno, how about advertising? A short mapcode could feasibly be shared on a storefront sign or an advertising billboard, whereas an entire lengthy physical address never could.

Or how about communication benefits? How do you intend to 'send that info to the guy in the field'? By sms? By whatsapp? By e-mail? By a phonecall? Under which circumstances would a long physical address ever be faster or more convenient than a 5-digit mapcode?

Or how about mobile optimisation (that thing everybody is raving about these days): how much easier would it be to enter five characters that represent an address and route towards it on your phone or even your smartwatch, rather than typing out a whole physical address?

Finally there is the confidence of the thing: you enter a code that you know is as accurate as GPS coordinates ... you don't have to wonder what to do in those many instances where there are no street numbers recorded for a street (or heck - there is NO formal address at all, like "50km outside of Port Elizabeth on the N1, near that big tree and the dead cow skeleton."

Are you sure you still can't see any benefits of mapcodes?

http://mapcodes.com/getcoordst.html?iso3=112&mapcode=49.4V

Look what maps they're using...

 

[Foxhound5366]

http://mapcodes.com/getcoordst.html?iso3=112&mapcode=49.4V

Look what maps they're using...

You missed this part:



They display on any mapping platform you want.

Also, not quite following the point you're making here. Mapcodes are platform agnostic and open-source ... what more do you want as a developer?

 

[DA-LION-619]

You missed this part:

View attachment 412012

They display on any mapping platform you want.

Also, not quite following the point you're making here. Mapcodes are platform agnostic and open-source ... what more do you want as a developer?

Just as an example, you give someone this code. Where does it go?

 

[Foxhound5366]

Just as an example, you give someone this code. Where does it go?

Good question. Firstly, you can scroll down on this page for the source code: http://www.mapcode.com/downloads.html [Small aside - you can also get the links to download the Apple and Android apps to your phone to generate mapcodes on the fly to your heart's desire - that's for regular old people like you and me to go wild]

Now do you see? The question isn't 'where does it go?' but rather, 'where can you integrate it?' Honestly, the answer is 'everywhere that would benefit from more concise and accurate location', which is ... ultimately ... most places these days. Whichever trend you want to tap into, from IoT to taming big data, the accurate geocoding and reverse geocoding of addresses is at the foundation.

If that answer is a bit too fluffy for you, you might be interested to know that mapcodes are already supported by TomTom's consumer and enterprise applications. You can enter a mapcode into a TomTom GPS and it'll take you right there ... 5-6 key strokes, rather than entering a long street address. You can try it out for yourself by copying and pasting this mapcode - ZAF H4N.V67 - into TomTom MyDrive. If you zoom in, you'll see I selected the middle of a roundabout. If you think about the complexity involved in trying to write out that as a physical address (and in truth it has no physical address because it isn't even on a road), then I think you'll appreciate this a bit more.

That's the beauty of mapcodes though: it's platform agnostic. You can develop whatever applications you want, whatever human-database interfaces you would like, whatever routing or dispatching or tracking or analysing applications you desire, and it's gonna help. Because the mapcode ultimately just gets decoded to a regular X,Y coordinate, it's supported by anything.

No do you get why I'm frustrated that we're still stuck with crumby physical addresses? lol

 

[DA-LION-619]

Good question. Firstly, you can scroll down on this page for the source code: http://www.mapcode.com/downloads.html [Small aside - you can also get the links to download the Apple and Android apps to your phone to generate mapcodes on the fly to your heart's desire - that's for regular old people like you and me to go wild]

Now do you see? The question isn't 'where does it go?' but rather, 'where can you integrate it?' Honestly, the answer is 'everywhere that would benefit from more concise and accurate location', which is ... ultimately ... most places these days. Whichever trend you want to tap into, from IoT to taming big data, the accurate geocoding and reverse geocoding of addresses is at the foundation.

If that answer is a bit too fluffy for you, you might be interested to know that mapcodes are already supported by TomTom's consumer and enterprise applications. You can enter a mapcode into a TomTom GPS and it'll take you right there ... 5 key strokes, rather than entering a long street address. You can try it out for yourself by copying and pasting this mapcode - ZAF H4N.V67 - into TomTom MyDrive. If you zoom in, you'll see I selected the middle of a roundabout. If you think about the complexity involved in trying to write out that as a physical address (and in truth it has no physical address because it isn't even on a road), then I think you'll appreciate this a bit more.

That's the beauty of mapcodes though: it's platform agnostic. You can develop whatever applications you want, whatever human-database interfaces you would like, whatever routing or dispatching or tracking or analysing applications you desire, and it's gonna help. Because the mapcode ultimately just gets decoded to a regular X,Y coordinate, it's supported by anything.

No do you get why I'm frustrated that we're still stuck with crumby physical addresses? lol

For one you're adding another dependency into your solution which most developers wouldn't do.
Yes some services are supported, but not the most used being Google Maps. The only thing I know used other than Google Maps is Waze for navigation.
Not sure if you've dealt with users but they hate installing apps.

There's no way of escaping a physical address, it has to be listed.
You can have your code, but would you seriously visit somewhere without a listed address on their website.

 

[Foxhound5366]

For one you're adding another dependency into your solution which most developers wouldn't do.
Yes some services are supported, but not the most used being Google Maps. The only thing I know used other than Google Maps is Waze for navigation.
Not sure if you've dealt with users but they hate installing apps.

There's no way of escaping a physical address, it has to be listed.
You can have your code, but would you seriously visit somewhere without a listed address on their website.

Dude, you're a developer, right? I thought developers solved problems, not just raised them What is stopping you from having a mapcode entry box on a website, and if people enter that then you parse it back into X,Y coordinates and pass that to Google Maps (if that's what you really want)?

Heck, if you're building both the client-side and enterprise-side applications, you control both ends of the equation: you just interpret whatever mapcodes clients are popping in or encode X,Y coordinates into mapcodes for clients to input into other systems that need them, and voila.

Just imagine a future where a client can phone a call centre of a company that they know supports mapcodes and says "Hey, I've moved addresses. My new address is RPQ.8G, got it?" Call centre agent types it into the system, the system interprets the mapcode and converts it to a standard physical address, and the call centre agent says "Oh right, 888 Carnegie Mellon Street, Idneverhavegottenthisrightifyou'dtriedtospellittome, Johannesburg?" Client: "Why yes, that's perfect, thanks so much!"

Now why wouldn't any sane developer, with a love of clean databases, convenience and accuracy not be in favour of that?

 

[DA-LION-619]

Dude, you're a developer, right? I thought developers solved problems, not just raised them What is stopping you from having a mapcode entry box on a website, and if people enter that then you parse it back into X,Y coordinates and pass that to Google Maps (if that's what you really want)?

Heck, if you're building both the client-side and enterprise-side applications, you control both ends of the equation: you just interpret whatever mapcodes clients are popping in or encode X,Y coordinates into mapcodes for clients to input into other systems that need them, and voila.

Just imagine a future where a client can phone a call centre of a company that they know supports mapcodes and says "Hey, I've moved addresses. My new address is RPQ.8G, got it?" Call centre agent types it into the system, the system interprets the mapcode and converts it to a standard physical address, and the call centre agent says "Oh right, 888 Carnegie Mellon Street, Idneverhavegottenthisrightifyou'dtriedtospellittome, Johannesburg?" Client: "Why yes, that's perfect, thanks so much!"

Now why wouldn't any sane developer, with a love of clean databases, convenience and accuracy not be in favour of that?

Because you're adding another dependency.
You still need to do reverse geocoding to get an address.

I build the front and back end for systems used by not so savy tech users but they understand Google Maps. There is no point for me to ask them for Map Codes because it's not widely implemented so for them to know it is basically ziltch.

If I have to do reverse geocoding via Google Maps I rather do it from the beginning.

I haven't phoned any call center recently but to change your address over the phone doesn't seem like something that would be implemented from a security point of view.