Ouagadougou

What the code says

The Grid Point Code for Ouagadougou is #H59RJ-NJL19. It names a cell 2.56 m north to south and 3.34 m east to west, centred on 12°21'56.34"N, 1°32'01.91"W, and it turns back into that cell on any phone or computer by arithmetic alone: no network, no account, no lookup table.

The point used is the one GeoNames records for Ouagadougou, near its centre, and Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso.

Code

#H59RJ-NJL19

With a check character

#H59RJ-NJL19*7

Short form

NJL19

Cell centre

12.365649, -1.533865

Cell size

2.56 m by 3.34 m

Region

Centre

Country

Burkina Faso

Population

2,415,266

How to give this address

On a sign, a form or a delivery note

The whole code, #H59RJ-NJL19. It needs nothing else: no city, no street, no network to read it back.

Said aloud, in Centre

Ouagadougou NJL19: a name both people know, then the last five characters. They give back the exact code for anywhere within 4.0 km north or south and 5.2 km east or west of Ouagadougou. Further away the same five name somewhere else, which is why the whole code is what goes on a sign.

Copied by hand, or read over a phone

#H59RJ-NJL19*7. The character on the end catches any single mistyped symbol and any two neighbours swapped.

As a link or a square code

Open it on the map, move to the exact door, and add directions if the code needs help: "blue gate, second floor". The link and the square code carry them. Nothing is kept on this site.

From the city to the door

The first four characters name a cell about 40 km by 52.2 km here. Each one after that picks one of 25 inside the last, so the whole ten name a spot about the size of a doorway.

1. RH59RMetropolitan area40 km by 52.2 km
2. JH59RJDistrict8 km by 10.4 km
3. NH59RJNSuburb1.6 km by 2.09 km
4. JH59RJNJA few streets320 m by 418 m
5. LH59RJNJLBuilding64 m by 83.5 m
6. 1H59RJNJL1Entrance12.8 m by 16.7 m
7. 9H59RJNJL19Doorway2.56 m by 3.34 m

More in Burkina Faso

• Bobo-Dioulasso
• Cascades de Karfiguéla
• Ruins of Loropéni