3 ms·

What makes this better than actual coordinates? I can easily find numeric coordinates on a map, without any special tables or computations. I can immediately

What makes this better than actual coordinates? I can easily find numeric coordinates on a map, without any special tables or computations. I can immediately see if two numeric coordinates are close just by looking at the numbers. Very many people understand how to use standard numeric coordinates.

yladiz 10y ago
Try remembering and telling someone your home's coordinates. Then try telling them the coordinates of the restaurant up the street.
- Programmatic 10y ago
  This would seem to suffer from a similar problem, given that we travel on and interact with roads primarily. Decoupling from that seems like it would be set to fail for human memory, since there would probably be nothing to reinforce the memory over time for your restaurant example.
jasode 10y ago
>What makes this better than actual coordinates? I can easily find numeric coordinates on a map, ... It may be "better" and more optimized for a particular purpose: human memorization It has a similar mnemonic strategy to other memorization techniques for numbers.[1] Apparently, there's something special about the language processing of the brain that makes it easier to remember words than numeric sequences. Phone-number-to-words (vanity phone #) is another example.[2][3] For other tasks you mentioned such as mathematical calculation/comparison, or computer lookup in db indexes, the encoding is definitely not optimized for that. However, that's not its purpose. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system [2]http://lifehacker.com/201752/spell-your-phone-number http://lifehacker.com/201752/spell-your-phone-number [3]http://hello-operator.softwareadvice.com/want-memorable-toll-free-number-ask-neuroscientist-0414/ http://hello-operator.softwareadvice.com/want-memorable-toll...
jeeeeefff 10y ago
Same reason we have DNS instead of remembering IP addresses.
- IanCal 10y ago
  DNS allows us to keep swapping the IP address associated with a service though, this (afaik) doesn't.
  - pareshverma91 10y ago
    Ability to swap underlying ip address is orthogonal to using alphanumerics in DNS. Numeric sequences could also be used as CNAME for the ip address. But we don't because of human brain.
james_pm 10y ago
Seems more easily remembered and therefore easier to accurately share without reliance on technology. 6342 LAY TRANSCENDENT (my location right now) is easier to write down, and comes with a built in typo checker (icon is the earth in this case).
- ktta 10y ago
  Probably not a good idea to post your address where people can see who you are (you have your keybase details on your profile)
  - james_pm 10y ago
    I'd be happy to meet anyone from HackerNews who wanted to drop by. I'm here everyday. It's the Tucows office in Toronto and it's no secret I work here most weekdays.

yladiz 10y ago

Try remembering and telling someone your home's coordinates. Then try telling them the coordinates of the restaurant up the street.

Programmatic 10y ago
This would seem to suffer from a similar problem, given that we travel on and interact with roads primarily. Decoupling from that seems like it would be set to fail for human memory, since there would probably be nothing to reinforce the memory over time for your restaurant example.

jasode 10y ago

>What makes this better than actual coordinates? I can easily find numeric coordinates on a map, ... It may be "better" and more optimized for a particular purpose: human memorization It has a similar mnemonic strategy to other memorization techniques for numbers.[1] Apparently, there's something special about the language processing of the brain that makes it easier to remember words than numeric sequences. Phone-number-to-words (vanity phone #) is another example.[2][3] For other tasks you mentioned such as mathematical calculation/comparison, or computer lookup in db indexes, the encoding is definitely not optimized for that. However, that's not its purpose. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system [2]http://lifehacker.com/201752/spell-your-phone-number http://lifehacker.com/201752/spell-your-phone-number [3]http://hello-operator.softwareadvice.com/want-memorable-toll-free-number-ask-neuroscientist-0414/ http://hello-operator.softwareadvice.com/want-memorable-toll...

jeeeeefff 10y ago

Same reason we have DNS instead of remembering IP addresses.

IanCal 10y ago
DNS allows us to keep swapping the IP address associated with a service though, this (afaik) doesn't.
- pareshverma91 10y ago
  Ability to swap underlying ip address is orthogonal to using alphanumerics in DNS. Numeric sequences could also be used as CNAME for the ip address. But we don't because of human brain.

james_pm 10y ago

Seems more easily remembered and therefore easier to accurately share without reliance on technology. 6342 LAY TRANSCENDENT (my location right now) is easier to write down, and comes with a built in typo checker (icon is the earth in this case).

ktta 10y ago
Probably not a good idea to post your address where people can see who you are (you have your keybase details on your profile)
- james_pm 10y ago
  I'd be happy to meet anyone from HackerNews who wanted to drop by. I'm here everyday. It's the Tucows office in Toronto and it's no secret I work here most weekdays.