Plus Codes: Free Addressing Nobody Uses

Logosofia no Dia a Dia · Oct 13, 2026 · 25m

Open Location Code gives every square on Earth a short alphanumeric address — free, offline, case-insensitive, precise to about 14 metres. Google published the spec in 2014, developers ported it to a dozen languages, and the Navajo Nation used it to address 3,100 homes for EMS. So why is a proprietary, pronunciation-ambiguous rival the one inside 911 dispatch centres? This episode traces Plus Codes from a Zürich spec document to slum addressing in India and Brazil, and lands on the question that actually matters: what happens when the code is precise but the GPS fix behind it isn't. Key…