Finding your way in a country without street addresses

In Ghana, finding your way around can be a challenge.
Since properties often don't have a house number or name and street signs are rarely visible, local landmarks like bars, banks or even trees are used instead to help people find their way.
But a new, home-grown mobile app wants to change how people get around, putting an end to the confusion faced by everyone from ambulance drivers, to bus drivers, taxis and couriers.
The SnooCode app generates a unique code for every property in Ghana, pinpointing each specific location with GPS technology.
Once you have your new address, in the form of the code, you enter it into the app's mapping service to find the best route.




It's a radical shift from the way many Ghanaians currently navigate, according to founder Sesinam Dagadu:
"[When giving directions] People always say: 'It's by the chop bar', 'beside the mango tree' or 'after the blue kiosk' and that isn't the way it should be… I wanted to change that."
"Without a proper address system, things like ambulance services and food delivery services don't work. Then there's a whole class of jobs revolving around delivery industries which simply doesn't exist," he says.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35385636