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What is a mapcode?

A mapcode is a code consisting of two groups of letters and digits, separated by a dot. It represents a location on the surface of the Earth, within the context of a separately specified country or territory. For example, the entrance to the elevator of the Eiffel Tower in Paris is “France 4J.Q2”. As with addresses, it is often unnecessary to explicitly mention the country. Mapcodes are supported on over 50.000.000 car navigation devices world-wide. More and more mapping companies are adopting mapcode as a standard.

Design Principles

The mapcode system was designed specifically as a free, brand-less, international standard for representing any location on the surface of the Earth by a short, easy to recognize and remember “code”, usually consisting of between 4 and 7 letters and digits. The shortness of mapcodes is the key differentiating factor between coordinates and other codes; more densely populated areas are designated with shorter (4 character codes. Mapcodes are accurate enough for public, every-day use. At the human scale, when you are within a few meters of a destination, you are “there”.

History

Mapcodes were developed in 2001 at TomTom by Pieter Geelen and Harold Goddijn, soon after the GPS satellite signals were opened up for civilian use. It was decided to donate the mapcode system to the public domain in 2008. The algorithms and data tables are maintained by the Mapcode Foundation, which provides source code and specifications free of charge to any organization that wants to support mapcodes. The mapcode system is being filed as a standard at the International Organization for Standardization.