We need this technology in Kenya ASAP.

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.

Raised in Ghana until the age of 10, Mr Dagadu studied engineering at university in the UK, but returned home in between completing his undergraduate and master’s degrees.

His inspiration for the idea came during his time working for a bank in Accra, where he found it difficult to navigate the capital’s hectic street system.

“It was the early days of consumer banking and we were sent out to get people to open bank accounts… we found that we were constantly lost and I thought there must be a better way,” he says.

Mr Dagadu set-up SnooCode in 2011, returning to Ghana from the UK in 2013 to work on the app full-time.

“For most address systems you have to be able to read entire words but with our system all you need to know is the alphabet and the numbers,” the 30-year old says.

“You stand in front of your house, push the code button and you get a code not unlike a postcode in the UK. Except this code is super precise – in the UK you need a postcode and a house number – with this you only need the code.”

Ghana’s emergency services have signed up to use the app in all their ambulances to improve response times, with 160 emergency workers already trained.

http://www.sundayadelaja...es-get-to-people-faster/