
Open Location Code - coolvoltage
http://openlocationcode.com/
======
pjkundert
Another option is EZCOD: all the features of Open Location Codes, plus error
detection and correction using Reed-Solomon FEC (forward error correction), in
C++, Javascript or Python:

[https://github.com/pjkundert/ezpwd-reed-
solomon](https://github.com/pjkundert/ezpwd-reed-solomon)

A reference implementation is online at [http://ezcod.com](http://ezcod.com)

More details at [http://hardconsulting.com/products/13-reed-
solomon](http://hardconsulting.com/products/13-reed-solomon)

TL;DR

Friends don't let friends use geolocation codes without error detection!
You'll end up in the wrong hemisphere...

A code like "R3U 1JU QUY.0" gets you within +/\- 3 meters of the coordinates
53.655832,-113.625433 -- with the ability to recover from 1 lost symbol, or a
certainty of P(.969) that the presented code is correct.

Optionally, 15 symbols gets you within +/\- 20 millimeters of any location on
the planet with P(.99997) certainty of correctness, or recovery from up to 3
missing symbols, or 1 erroneous symbol while retaining P(.969) certainty of
correctness!

~~~
nulltype
Yeah they list a lot of requirements on this page:
[https://github.com/google/open-location-
code/blob/master/doc...](https://github.com/google/open-location-
code/blob/master/docs/comparison.adoc)

Oddly I don't see redundancy (error detection or better yet, error correction)
in there but it seems to be an important part of human language. They do make
an effort to reduce symbols that could easily be confused at least.

------
nevi-me
There's also what3words [0], which uses 3 English words. They support a few
other locales/languages I believe.

Their idea seems better from a human-readable perspective, and I prefer the
solution to other concoctions like what Waytag [1] once did. Although Waytag
founders focused on 'our technology is patented, soon Google and all the other
giants will be licensing from us' part [2] instead of improving their user
experience and creating a decent API. Their patent later got invalidated with
GeoCities as prior art. I tried to find the detail on Stack Exchange, I'll add
reference when I find it.

[0] [http://what3words.com](http://what3words.com) [1]
[http://waytag.com](http://waytag.com) [2] [http://support.waytag.com/our-
vision/](http://support.waytag.com/our-vision/)

~~~
nulltype
Having the city on there is maybe more readable in many ways. The other thing
that sets this apart from what3words is that what3words won't give out their
word list as far as I can tell. This could be because they have taken $5
million in funding.

