Great Zimbabwe

What the code says

The Grid Point Code for Great Zimbabwe is #8F757-DN2W1. It names a cell 2.56 m north to south and 3.21 m east to west, centred on 20°16'12.01"S, 30°55'58.79"E, and it turns back into that cell on any phone or computer by arithmetic alone: no network, no account, no lookup table.

What it is

Ruined city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo, was once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age

Code

#8F757-DN2W1

With a check character

#8F757-DN2W1*1

Short form

DN2W1

Cell centre

-20.270004, 30.932997

Cell size

2.56 m by 3.21 m

Region

Masvingo Province

Country

Zimbabwe

How to give this address

On a sign, a form or a delivery note

The whole code, #8F757-DN2W1. It needs nothing else: no city, no street, no network to read it back.

Said aloud, in Masvingo Province

Great Zimbabwe DN2W1: 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 5.0 km east or west of Great Zimbabwe. 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

#8F757-DN2W1*1. 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 50.1 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. 58F75Metropolitan area40 km by 50.1 km
2. 78F757District8 km by 10 km
3. D8F757DSuburb1.6 km by 2 km
4. N8F757DNA few streets320 m by 401 m
5. 28F757DN2Building64 m by 80.2 m
6. W8F757DN2WEntrance12.8 m by 16 m
7. 18F757DN2W1Doorway2.56 m by 3.21 m

More in Zimbabwe

• Mbare Musika
• Harare
• Bulawayo
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• Matobo National Park