NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, August 4, 2017

Nigeria has a snail-mail problem that creates serious issues, and it’s hoping a high-tech address system can deliver a fix.

The postal service of Africa’s most populous country is set to start using What3words, according to the the same-named company behind the system.

The technology uses an algorithm to carve up the planet into 3-meter squares — 57 trillion of ’em — and give each a three-word label. Times Square in New York is “bolts.native.year,” for instance, and Boston’s Faneuil Hall is “atomic.camera.poem.”