Re:Why doesn't Costa Rica use real addresses?
by orangepurple on Thursday March 02, 2023 @04:01PM
(#35002023)
The address you give out to others is the interface of the property to the outside world where some action may take place in the immediate vicinity. For instance the entrance to a dwelling or a mail box.
It does strike me as quite non-obvious what is the proper level of precision. If you own a ranch, are you pointing to the middle of the ranch far away from the house on its corner, or are you pointing to the house itself, but which is also almost next to the house on the neighboring ranch?
Places aren't points and they also aren't areas that fit into pre-existing grids. In reality they tend to be quite irregular shapes whose conceptual "landmark" point (front door, lobby, reception area) is often far away from their "center-of-gravity" center.