Location Aware Names
Other
location encoding
SHOW HN2014
How HN took it
4 positive, 16 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 42 critical, out of 64 comments about the project. Thread score -0.52.
Idea: 4 for, 26 againstDesign: 0 for, 7 againstExecution: 0 for, 6 againstDocs: 0 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clever concept; pronounceable location names could complement coordinates.
From 3 comments
This seems like a good suggestion for a global system of Postcodes (Zipcodes). As others have mentioned, lots of other human readable info is stored in a traditional address, so…
tehwalrus on HNThe slides are really cool – there's a lot of depth. I was really impressed that vectors could be encapsulated in names, removing the need for street information to be stored.…
rusew on HNThis is a rather wonderful concept. English names are good but often when names in another language are converted into English and typed into Google maps they can be spelled many…
superasn on HN
Objections
Generated names are hard to pronounce, spell and remember, and sound unnatural.
From 3 comments
I don't think I'm on board with this. Here are two names from the same street: NOZAXO-JEJEZU, NUZAXOJ-JAJEZUN and here's one from another location in the city PABAXO-GAKEZU.…
wuliwong on HNThose aren't names, those are random jumbles of letters that are somewhat pronounceable. They might be also hard to localise for places that don't use English words. A name is a…
anon4 on HNThe example phonetic address they use for a bunch of examples is "RERI-NUCA". Not very memorable. And what happens if you misspell it? The example of spelling "Pine Hill" as…
egypturnash on HN
Does not replace rich info in addresses and loses cultural meaning of place names.
From 2 comments
Place names have huge emotional content associated with them. Place names are changed for example to honor a person (Washinton, DC) or an important concept (Union City, CA).…
not_that_noob on HNIts a nice little thought experiment, but current place names have been optimized for human memory. Objects, names, events are all synaptically linked to enable the average human…
MrDosu on HN
Names may not work across languages and phonetic variation causes ambiguity.
From 2 comments
This system doesn't (currently) solve the problem it was created to solve, which is to create a system that can uniquely encode locations that also produces phonetically coherent…
zheshishei on HNA few comments: 0: How does the street algorithm work? 1: Not everywhere can effectively be described as a point with varying degrees of precision. Some places are long and thin.…
frobozz on HN
Requests
Publish the algorithm and provide a library for integration.
From 1 comment
What's the algorithm for mapping between locations and names? If I wanted to integrate this into my own code how would I do that -- is there a library? Coincidentally I published…
plesner on HN
Add error checking for misspellings.
From 1 comment
This is a rather wonderful concept. English names are good but often when names in another language are converted into English and typed into Google maps they can be spelled many…
superasn on HN
Handle non-linear streets and multi-story buildings.
From 2 comments
The slides are really cool – there's a lot of depth. I was really impressed that vectors could be encapsulated in names, removing the need for street information to be stored.…
rusew on HNYou would still need another line for multi-story buildings. For example, I live on the 2nd floor of a building. On google maps, my flat is located above a restaurant. I guess I…
daemonk on HN
Questions
How does this compare to mapcode and what3words?
From 1 comment
How does this compare to http://www.mapcode.com/ and http://what3words.com/ ? And how does one achieve the sort of critical mass where the average person on the street knows…
michaelt on HN
How does the street algorithm work?
From 1 comment
A few comments: 0: How does the street algorithm work? 1: Not everywhere can effectively be described as a point with varying degrees of precision. Some places are long and thin.…
frobozz on HN
Alternatives named
what3words and mapcode
From 1 comment
How does this compare to http://www.mapcode.com/ and http://what3words.com/ ? And how does one achieve the sort of critical mass where the average person on the street knows…
michaelt on HN
Latitude and longitude coordinates
From 2 comments
Its a nice little thought experiment, but current place names have been optimized for human memory. Objects, names, events are all synaptically linked to enable the average human…
MrDosu on HNSeems like the easiest metaphor for this is "DNS for GPS" - i.e. in the same way DNS translates IP addresses into something human-readable, this translates lat-long into…
corry on HN