(Replying to PARENT post)
>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
[2]http://lifehacker.com/201752/spell-your-phone-number
[3]http://hello-operator.softwareadvice.com/want-memorable-toll...
👤jasode🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Same reason we have DNS instead of remembering IP addresses.
👤jeeeeefff🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
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).
👤james_pm🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Try remembering and telling someone your home's coordinates. Then try telling them the coordinates of the restaurant up the street.
👤yladiz🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
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.