Colombo

What the code says

The Grid Point Code for Colombo is #K16WK-684K4. It names a cell 2.56 m north to south and 3.39 m east to west, centred on 6°56'07.76"N, 79°50'55.20"E, 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 Colombo, near its centre, and Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka.

Code

#K16WK-684K4

With a check character

#K16WK-684K4*8

Short form

684K4

Cell centre

6.935489, 79.848668

Cell size

2.56 m by 3.39 m

Region

Western Province

Country

Sri Lanka

Population

648,034

How to give this address

On a sign, a form or a delivery note

The whole code, #K16WK-684K4. It needs nothing else: no city, no street, no network to read it back.

Said aloud, in Western Province

Colombo 684K4: 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 5.3 km east or west of Colombo. 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

#K16WK-684K4*8. 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 53 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. WK16WMetropolitan area40 km by 53 km
2. KK16WKDistrict8 km by 10.6 km
3. 6K16WK6Suburb1.6 km by 2.12 km
4. 8K16WK68A few streets320 m by 424 m
5. 4K16WK684Building64 m by 84.9 m
6. KK16WK684KEntrance12.8 m by 17 m
7. 4K16WK684K4Doorway2.56 m by 3.39 m

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